


Batboys hurt/comfort bingo

by FanDreams01



Series: Requests [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Batfamily (DCU), Batfamily Angst (DCU), Bingo, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Character Death, Creepy Ra’s al Ghul, Damian Wayne-centric, Dick Grayson-centric, Duke Thomas-centric, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, I'll edit characters and relationships as chapters are posted, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Police Brutality, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Insecure Tim Drake, Jason Todd-centric, Language because Jason Todd, Major Character Injury, Nightmares, Protective Siblings, Racism, Tim Drake-centric, Whump, but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:47:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 38,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26411374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanDreams01/pseuds/FanDreams01
Summary: I've seen some of these and figured why not.Requests on first chapter.
Relationships: Damian Wayne & Everyone, Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson & Duke Thomas, Dick Grayson & Everyone, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Duke Thomas & Everyone, Duke Thomas & Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Everyone, Tim Drake & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Duke Thomas & Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Everyone
Series: Requests [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1938085
Comments: 146
Kudos: 459





	1. Requests [Closed]

Please post your requests on this chapter in the comments. Be as specific or non-specific as you want, though I may ask you a few questions.

This book isn’t for one of the boys specifically so I’ve decided to make a limit of how many chapters can be centered around each of them.

Dick Grayson-centric: 5/5

Jason Todd-centric: 5/5

Tim Drake-centric: 5/5

Damian Wayne-centric: 5/5

Duke Thomas-centric: 5/5

Duke deserves more love, okay y’all? Plus there’s no way to divide 25 by 4 evenly.

Some of them are hard to read so I’ll tell you the ones I think are hardest to see. The space to the right of “Drugged” reads “Misunderstandings”, To the right of “PTSD” is “Brotherhood”, and to the right of “Mantles” is “Harrassment” though that one is easier to read.

As requests come in I’ll update the card with different logos.

Heart = complete

Sun = working on

Moon = requested

Each of the boys will have a separate colored symbol so you know which bat the story will be focused on. 

Dick = blue

Jason = dark red

Tim = red

Damian = green

Duke = yellow

It is important to note that I don’t read the comics, but I do watch videos on them and it’s relatively easy to piece together certain story lines from fanfictions, so I will do my best if you ask for something on a specific storyline.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot tell you how hard this was. I literally had to make a tumblr in order to get the image in.


	2. Torture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Damian tortured with his brothers and Bruce being worried about him."  
> Requested by Dubububu

Damian gritted his teeth as one of Gotham’s many villains twisted a knife into his thigh, trying to stem a cry before it left his lips. 

_ This is preposterous, _ Damian thought viciously,  _ it doesn’t even hurt that bad. _ He had experienced worse while undergoing training with the League of Assassins. Perhaps it had just been to long since his body had been put through pain quite as extreme as this.

He’d gotten out of practice, though Dick would insist that was a good thing. 

“Aw come on, Pretty bird.” The villain taunted, running the knife across Damian’s face. “I just want to here you sing. As soon as you do it’ll stop. So sing me all your secrets.”

Damian raised his head to glower at the villain and spit in his face. He would never forgive himself for getting captured by someone like this man.

He wasn’t a big player, relatively new to the Gotham scene - going by The Broker and trying to build up an organization - and so Damian hadn’t thought twice when he’d jumped into action despite Dick’s protests to wait for him. Damian had been too cocky he knew, he’d been yelled at enough times for “looking before he leaped” as his father put it. He wasn’t looking forward to the lecture this time around.

The Broker, or Jonas Kelling, hummed as he walked away from Damian and surveyed a table of different weapons he’d laid out when Damian woke up in an attempt at intimidation.

“You didn’t need to be so rude, you know.” Kelling spoke, almost conversationally. “It would go so much smoother if you’d just tell me what I want to know.” He picked up a syringe and flicked it before making his way back over to Damian.

Damian ran his fingers over the ropes binding him again, already knowing he couldn’t undo the knots.

Kelling gripped Damian’s hair tightly and tugged sharply so he had clear access to Damian’s neck. “Just tell me. Who you are?”

Damian glared at him from the corner of his eye. “I refuse to speak to someone whose alias is a clear knock off of the Joker’s.”

Kelling growled. “You’re one to talk. You’re just a knock off of the Robins before you!” The plunged the syringe into Damian’s neck and Damian let out a soft sound of pain despite his best efforts not to.

“Do you know what that is?” Kelling asked rhetorically. “It’s a drug that will attack your nervous system and leave you a blubbering mess. How long do you think you can survive that? You might want to start talking.”

Damian glared. He felt fine. “Fuck you.”

~~~

The drug kicked in an hour later. And it hadn’t worn off.

Damian felt like he was on fire and it was all he could do not to scream. His body twisted and convulsed every now and then, spasms running through his muscles as they tried to escape the pain.

Kelling only watched from a chair, a good distance away from Damian as if watching a show and Damian wished he could curse him out, but he didn’t trust his voice not to shake in an even more pathetic show of weakness.

_ “You’re just a knock off of the Robins before you.” _

Damian would normally scoff at the thought. It was him who was Robin after all, the current was always superior to the ones before. In any case, it was definitely the pain talking when Damian found himself lingering on the words.

Dick would have been able to talk Kelling down at the warehouse.

Jason would have been able to fight hard enough to get out before he was captured.

Even Tim would have been able to escape by now.

“Are you ready to talk yet?” Kelling stodd and came over to Damian, carrying two syringes this time.  _ One is probably the antiserum, _ Damian realized, _ the other… _

“I’m not telling you anything.” Damian hissed between panting breaths.

Kelling sighed and made a face of mock sympathy. “Have it your way.” He took one of the syringes and gave Damian a second dose.

~~~

Damian didn’t know how long he’d been captured, didn’t know how long he’d been in debilitating pain. Kelling seemed to be losing patience though.

“Just tell me who you are?” Kelling growled, arms on either side of Damian.

Damian could no longer muster a verbal response of any kind, so he remained silent.

Kelling swore and went back to his table of weapons, picking the knife up. He brandished it in front of Damian’s face, allowing him a clear view of the weapon. “How do you think this will feel, while your nervous system is being attacked from the inside already? Hmm?”

Damian grit his teeth, tugging at his restraints in a futile attempt to escape. He knew Kelling would go through with the threat, and he knew it would feel excruciating.

The knife slowly dug itself into the already existing stab wound in Damian’s thigh and twisted. Damian screamed, vision blacking out just as he heard a thud from in front of him.

“Let. Him. Go.”

~~~

“B… dote!”

“...Convul…!”

“He….lized Dick…”

“...On...Spawn...up.”

“Jon… he… wake… Brat.”

~~~

Damian woke up slowly. He groaned quietly and observed his surroundings. He was no longer restrained, and the steady beeping of medical machines were making his head pound, as well as the soft, echoing screeching of bats high above.

He was in the cave. He was home.

Damian relaxed slightly, and it was then he realized there was an additional weight near his feet. He lifted his head and looked down, seeing Dick leaning onto the bed as he slept in a chair next to it. Jason was sleeping with his arms crossed in a chair in the corner of the room and Tim was working on his laptop on the floor.

Damian cleared his throat to get his attention, suddenly becoming aware of how dry his throat felt.

Tim looked up, and moved his laptop over when he noticed Damian. “Hey,” He started awkwardly.

“Where’s Father?” Damian asked.

Tim sighed, glancing out of the med-bay. “He’s working on the report from our end of things, you know him. He won’t stop beating himself up about what happened.” He looked back at Damian. “He was really worried, you know.”

Damian hummed slightly in acknowledgement. His father always did have a self-destructive habit of blaming himself for everything. “How long was I gone.”

Tim looked down. “A day and a half. It took us awhile to track down where Jonas was keeping you.”

A day and a half.

Damian wondered how long he’d spent under the influence of Kelling’s drug.

“How are you feeling?” Tim asked, concern hidden carefully in his eyes.

Under normal circumstances Damian would give him a scathing remark for his worry, but he simply didn’t have the energy. “No longer like I’m on fire. My thigh hurts though.”

Tim nodded and stood to check Damian’s pain killer dosage. “I’ll ask Alfred if we can give you some more pain meds when he comes back.” Tim hesitated before risking carding a hand through Damian’s hair. “Get some rest, you need it. We’ll be here when you wake up.”

Damian nodded slightly, eyes drifting closed. He was safe. He was home.

Even if home was with idiot brothers like Dick, Jason and Tim, it was better than that torture room with Kelling. His brothers, at least, wouldn’t let anything happen when it came down to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, those scattered pieces of dialogue were Damian kind of waking up occasionally and hearing some things being said, but he wasn't lucid or fully awake until the end scene.  
> Damian is, other than Duke, the batboy I'm least confident writing, so I hope I wrote this well and you enjoyed it!


	3. Kidnapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Duke for kidnapped"  
> Requested by G

It wasn’t as though Duke wasn’t aware he could be kidnapped. Every kid in Gotham grew up with the threat of being abducted hanging over them, most even had lists of best and worst people to be kidnapped by.

The risk to Duke grew greater when he became a vigilante. The others had all warned him that it was inevitable.

They’d forgotten to mention the threat as a Wayne. Which, in hindsight, he shouldn’t have needed. Kidnappings of elite children weren’t uncommon at all, and he was pretty sure all of the bats had been kidnapped in civilian identity at least once - even Steph who wasn’t a Wayne. 

So yes, Duke knew he could be kidnapped, which just made this situation even worse.

He’d wanted to get away from Wayne manor for awhile. The atmosphere could be overwhelming at times, especially when all of the Robins were there. Tim and Damian and Jason fought like dogs and cats, switching which one they were depending on who they were fighting. And Dick could be overbearing and… well he just wanted everyone to be a family.

Which Duke would be fine with, if it didn’t include him. He had parents, and he knew that they weren’t there at the moment, and they might not be ever again. But sometimes it felt like the Waynes moved too fast, even when Bruce made it specifically clear that Duke didn’t need to be a part of anything he wasn’t ready for.

So Duke had gone out, to a library near his old neighborhood. And when he’d been leaving to head back to the manor, he’d felt arms wrap around him from behind and drag him into an alleyway. Another man came from the front and pressed a clothe tightly over Duke’s mouth and nose.

Sweetness filled his senses. Chloroform.

Duke tried to struggle out of the grip and away from the men, but whoever was holding him was almost as strong as Jason.

His vision started to black out and the world spun.

~~~

Duke did his best to remain still, keeping his breathing even so that his kidnappers would think he was still out cold, if they were in the room. When he couldn’t hear anything, no shuffling of feet or exhaled breaths he opened his eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the light.

The room he was in was empty and he was tied to a chair in the middle of it. Duke ran his fingers over the ropes tying him. The knot seemed like it would be relatively easy to undo, but the question was, should he?

Duke closed his eyes and took a deep breath to think.

He was in civilian identity, not Signal. People would get suspicious if the ward of Bruce Wayne got himself out of a kidnapping situation. Or maybe not, one would think that when Bruce had so many kids and they’d all been kidnapped at least once, Bruce would invest in some classes that would help his children.

_ Not worth the risk _ , Duke finally decided. He’d just have to sit and wait for the others to decide what to do.

Idly he wondered how long that would take. He was new, he didn’t have any strong bonds with the others yet. And he had a tendency to disappear for awhile when he got overwhelmed by the changes. And they all respected that. According to Alfred, Dick and Jason had both been the same at first.

No one would get suspicious until they realized he wasn’t at breakfast, Duke guessed. Not unless his kidnappers called.

“This is gonna be a long night,” Duke murmured.

~~~

Duke estimated it was about an hour after he woke up when his kidnappers came into the room.

“Good morning,” One of them greeted sarcastically. “You are about to make us a lot of money, brat.”

Duke glared, but remained silent. Unlike Jason or Damian, maybe even Dick, he knew better than to backtalk the people keeping him hostage. At least when he wasn’t Signal.

The kidnappers started setting up camera equipment and Duke took the time to get a better look at them. The one who didn’t seem to be a big fan of Duke had blond hair and dark eyes, his frame was thin.

The other had a larger, muscular frame - definitely the one who had restrained Duke earlier - and dark hair and eyes.

They finished setting up the camera and put on ski masks.

Duke’s heart sank. They had shown him their faces, but covered them for the video. That meant they were smart enough not to let people who could track them see what they look like. That meant they had no intentions of letting him live.

“Mr. Wayne,” started the skinny one after his partner turned on the camera and joined him in the frame. “I’m sure by now you realize your… flock of misfits is missing a member.”

Duke didn’t like how he referred to the rest of the bats.

“We will return him to you unharmed. So long as you give us a payment of $25,000. You can transfer the money to the account we will send you in this email. And if you don’t…” The man motioned for his burly partner to make his way over to Duke.

He did and when he stood in front of Duke, he pulled his hand back and swung. Duke’s face snapped to the side, his cheek burned and his mouth tasted of blood from where his cheek had scrapped across his teeth.

“We won’t be nice to him. You have until tomorrow evening.”

He moved to turn off the camera and Duke wanted to shout that they were lying, that he as going to die either way. But he knew better, and there wasn’t enough time to shout a warning before the video stopped anyway. 

~~~

The kidnappers hadn’t come back since recording the video and Duke could only guess as to how long he’d been there when he heard the sounds of a scuffle. It didn’t last long.

Soon enough, the door swung open and Dick, as Nightwing, rushed in. “Duke! Are you okay? You just got hit on camera right?” He asked as he untied Duke.

“Yeah,” Duke confirmed. “I’m good ‘Wing.”

Dick nodded. “Alright, let’s get you to the police so they can take you back to the Waynes. Red Robin and Robin are outside with the kidnappers.”

Duke raised an eyebrow. “Did you guys really need to send three people.”

Dick shrugged. “We don’t take risks with family.”

Duke smiled slightly.

~~~

It wasn’t until that night, after Duke had been at the manor for a few hours that Bruce came and talked to him. 

“How are you doing?” Bruce asked, hovering in the doorway.

Duke hesitated. “They were going to kill me.” He said, the fact finally sinking in. 

He’d acknowledged it in the moment but adrenaline, or maybe instincts, hadn’t let him really think about it while he’d been kidnapped. Now that the danger had passed, it was like only now did he have time to process it. 

Duke didn’t realize he was shaking until Bruce walked over and careful put a hand on his shoulder, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“It… even if you payed them, they were going to kill me. They showed me their faces.” Duke explained.

Bruce nodded carefully. “It’s a good thing we got you out then.”

Duke sighed, relaxing slightly. He was new, yes, but not new enough that he didn’t have a basic understanding of what Bruce really meant when he said things. And what Bruce had meant with that was, “We won’t ever let that happen.”

Duke offered him a smile in thanks and Bruce nodded, slightly awkwardly, before taking his leave.

Duke got into bed and fell asleep thinking that, while he wasn’t ready yet, he could see himself feeling right at home in this family later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was my first time writing about Duke, so I hope I wrote him okay. Hope you enjoyed!


	4. Imprisoned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paraphrased comment: Could you possibly do imprisoned with Tim? Imprisoned with Ra's al Ghul, perhaps centered around Tim's travels when Bruce was gone? And the rest of his family finding out he has no spleen, worked with Ra's and the whole thing with Ra's half-sister in Paris?  
> Requested by Sarah_Kate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> since Ra's calls both Bruce and Tim Detective, I distinguished them by having him refer to Tim as 'his' Detective. Cause Ra's is creepy like that.

Tim hated Ra’s al Ghul. 

If it hadn’t been the only reason Tim had been able to track down and save Bruce almost a year ago, Tim would have regretted ever getting involved with the League of Assassins more than being a Bat made him.

Now, he had to deal with Ra’s’ assassins tailing him and gifts and flowers left for him. And now, apparently, he also had to deal with kidnappings, which was really more an inconvenience for his work.

Though, as Tim paced the length of the bird like cage Ra’s had him in, he had to admit that Ra’s’ flare for dramatics really did rival Bruce’s.

“What do you want with me, Ra’s?” Tim asked, staring at the man who sat lazily in his throne like chair next to the cage.

“The same thing I’ve always wanted from you, Detective.” Ra’s smiled.

Tim rolled his eyes. “That hasn’t exactly worked out for you any other time. How is your network doing, by the way?” 

Ra’s’ eyes narrowed slightly before he put on a passive expression once more. “They’re doing just fine, Detective. I’d be more worried about yourself.”

Tim glared and went back to pacing. There was no way out of the cage, not without a laser cutter. The lock had been melted into the cage once Tim had been placed in, so there was no key, and there was nothing to pick.

Tim didn’t like this. He didn’t like not having a plan. 

The door opened and one of the League’s ninja’s came in and knelt before Ra’s. “The bats have arrived. What would you like us to do?”

Internally, Tim perked up slightly, though he didn’t let it show. Perhaps there was a chance he’d be able to make it to the WE board meeting tomorrow.

Ra’s tilted his head in a show of fake contemplation. “Allow them in.”

Tim’s eyebrows furrowed slightly.

The ninja nodded and left the room.

~~~

Tim was watching Ra’s closely, trying to figure out the man’s plan, when the bats burst into the room and Tim’s gaze flicked over to them. Batman, Robin, Red Hood and Nightwing had all shown up, not a surprise seeing as it was the League of Assassins they were dealing with.

Damian appeared agitated to be in a League base again, from not-so-great memories no doubt. 

Jason was itching for a fight, hand resting on one of his holsters. They clearly hadn’t run into any League members, just like Ra’s ordered.

Dick’s gaze kept flickering between Ra’s, Damian and Tim, clearly nervous.

And Bruce was as stoic as usual, though Tim could make out the anger in his jawline and slightly tenser than usual body language.

“Detective, Richard, Jason, Grandson.” Ra’s greeted. “So nice of you to join me and my Detective.”

Tim bristled at being referred to as a possession and he noticed Bruce tense more.

“What do you want with Tim?” Bruce rumbled.

Ra’s raised an eyebrow. “Just as I told my Detective earlier. I want, what i have always wanted from him. His mind really is a beautiful thing.” Ra’s stood smoothly from his chair and glided towards Tim, reaching through the bars as if to caress Tim, who pulled away.

Damian growled, clutching his katana tighter, though he didn’t say a thing. Tim had a feeling him being there was under the sole condition he not say anything to Ra’s.

“Tim isn’t yours!” Dick cried out.

“Well, after working with me for almost a year I would say Timothy is more mine then yours.” Ra’s fired back. “I, at least, do not assume him insane when his mind finds a truth none want to believe.”

Dick flinched back while Jason and Damian both looked away. Bruce showed no reaction, though Tim knew he’d be demanding an explanation for the statement when they arrived home. He never had been informed of everything that happened during his stint in time and Tim had hoped to keep it that way.

“You don’t own me, Ra’s. I thought my parting gift to you made that clear enough.” Tim broke in, hoping to stop the discussion before anything else was revealed.

Ra’s turned to Tim, a faux hurt look. “Yes, and I was deeply offended.” He hadn’t been. He’d praised Tim for his moves in one of the many notes he’d sent. “I saved your life, and that was the thanks I got, Detective?”

Tim’s lips thinned into a line. There was no way to answer this without stepping on a landmine. If he answered, he’d have to say he never asked Ra’s to do that and then the others would think he had a death wish - which wasn’t entirely true but wasn’t entirely wrong. And if he remained silent, one of them would ask a question.

He’d been silent too long apparently.

“What do you mean?” Jason questioned, hand still positioned on his holster.

“Why, my Detective’s spleen of course.” Ra’s replied, feigning innocent. He turned back to Tim. “Sometimes, I think it would have been best I let you die and used the pit. It would have been a risk, your beautiful mind might not have made it, but perhaps you would have… dropped your search for the Detective.”

Jason growled and drew his gun, reacting at the mention and - past? - threat of the Lazarus pit. “Hand Replacement over, Ra’s. I won’t play nice.”

Ra’s could deal with Jason if necessary, no doubt there were League ninjas hiding in the room, and even if he did die, Tim hadn’t destroyed all the Lazarus pits so he’d be back.

He seemed to decide against it though. 

Ra’s sighed and waved a hand. “Very well, I will leave. Be gone in an hour.” He turned away, presumably to leave through some hidden exit but looked back at Tim. “I will covet you one day, my Detective. It is ashame my sister refuses to touch you after your sister, your children would have been almost as brilliant as you, I’m sure.”

And he left.

~~~

After using laser cutters to get Tim out of the cage, the bats flew back to Gotham on a flight eerily quiet considering those on board.

When they reached the cave they stood in relative silence. Tim cleared his throat, hoping they could just move past this. “So, do you want me to write a report?”

“Drake, I believe you need to write report on more than just tonight!” Damian snapped. “What was Grandfather talking about?”

Tim sighed. “I did mention that I had to work with the League of Assassins in my report after retrieving Bruce.”

“You never mentioned anything about your Spleen, Timmy! That’s something we need to know! What if something happened? What if you got sick? What if there was a pandemic?” Dick questioned furiously.

Tim sighed. “Look, I’ve been dealing with it fine. I take antibiotics and everything. There wasn’t any need to worry you guys. Can I just get some coffee? I have a meeting tomorrow.”

“No.” Bruce interrupted. “I’ll let Lucius know you can’t come in. We need to talk about this Tim.”

Tim groaned. “Look guys, I’m fine.”

“What happened?” Jason asked. “Talk to us, Baby Bird. I know we’re not great, we were all kind of asses to you when this shit was apparently going down, but we need to know about it now.”

“God-  _ fine _ . I lost my spleen during a fight with the Council of Spiders, and enemy of the League. I woke up next to the Lazarus pit, but he didn’t use it on me. Happy?” Tim asked, frustration getting the better of him.

Dick let out the sound of a wounded animal, likely realizing Tim almost  _ died _ with no backup and no one to ever know something happened.

Tim had made his peace with it, the others would too eventually.

“Why did Grandfather bring up the Daughter of Archernon?” Damian asked. “Why did he say she refused to touch you?”

“Look - he - I was looking into an assassination tournament and she captured me. Apparently Ra’s wanted her to have my kid since I refuse to be his heir. Cass stopped her before she could do anything though.” He quickly reassured when he saw Dick’s face turn ashen and eyes go hazy.

“Oh my God,” Dick breathed.

“Grandfather wants you to be his heir?” Damian demanded. “Drake, do you not realize the severity of this situation?”

“It’s been fine!” Tim snapped. “It’s mostly just an inconvenience to have the ninjas trailing me, and I throw all the gifts he leaves out! I’m fine!”

“Tim.” Bruce ground out. “Being referred to as Detective by Ra’s is a great compliment, but it also puts you at great danger. You need to tell us these things when they happen so that we can help you. We -  _ I _ don’t want anything to happen to you.”

Tim levelled Bruce with a blank look, calling out the hypocrisy.

Bruce sighed, realizing he’d have to stoop to a lower level than he wanted to. “What about our agreement? You can’t keep me from being reckless if you’re not here. We agreed that if you were to be Robin, then you wouldn’t be another name on the list of people I’ve lost.”

Tim paused. He’d almost forgotten about the agreement he and Bruce had made when he first showed up and all but forced his way into the man’s life. And Bruce wasn’t wrong.

Tim sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I’ll… I’ll do better.”

Bruce stepped forward and put a hand on Tim’s shoulder. “I’m not asking you to do better, Tim. You already do amazing. I’m asking you to tell us things so you’re not on your own.”

Tim looked up at Bruce and then at his brothers. Dick was practically begging Tim to agree with his eyes, Jason tried not to look concerned, but Tim could tell in the way Jason leaned slightly in his direction. And Damian was closed off and agitated, but Tim expected nothing less from him.

It would be nice, he supposed, to be able to talk to people. To have someone to lean on for a change. He’d been on his own and independent since he was a child. He’d been Batman’s support as Robin, not the other way around. 

What would it be like to have people to rely on? He didn’t know, but… he wanted to.

“Alright,” He relented. “I’ll let you guys know when anything happens with the league.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if Ra's sister's name is correct, but I looked it up and saw that it was Nyssa, which confused me but I went with it. If I'm wrong and someone knows her correct name, please tell me and I'll change it. (I’ve been corrected and changed it.)  
> Also, anyone notice the two Easter eggs I put in? One’s to real life and the other is to the Nightwing comics.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	5. Fear Gas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paraphrased comments: the fear gas square for Dick with him reliving Jason or Bruce's death and being clingy towards them? You can add other things too.  
> Requested by TokiNoKusabi

Dick was in a warehouse. Why was he in a warehouse?

He looked around and noted the snow falling outside through a window. The sound of something hitting flesh reached Dick’s ears and he turned, eyes widening at what he saw.

Jason.

Joker.

A crowbar.

“Jason!” He screamed and drew his escrima sticks, running towards them. He had to stop Joker. He had to save Jason. He had to save his brother!

But he couldn’t reach them, why couldn’t he reach them?

It was like there was an infinite distance between him and Jaosn and the Joker and no matter how much he ran he never got closer. All he could do was watch as Joker hit Jason with the crowbar over and over, as he taunted Jason. Tears streamed down Dick’s face.

Eventually the Joker left. And Dick watched - still running, still trying - as Jason struggled to get to the door, only for it to be locked.

The bomb seemed to flicker into existence out of nowhere and he watched as Jason looked at the numbers, fear visible in his eyes even from the distance Dick was at.

And that’s when he heard it.

“B… Dick… help me.”

The bomb went off.

Dick screamed.

~~~

_ “C’mon Goldie, stay with us. It ain’t real, ya gotta wake up.” _

~~~

Dick’s breath shook as he stared ahead, his vision recovering from the explosion.

He wasn’t in the warehouse anymore, how had he gotten out?

His mind remained on Jason and he collapsed. His brother was gone. His brother was  _ dead _

Dick took a shaky breath, trying to gain control of his emotions again and take not of his surroundings.

He’s in a metal room, men lay unconscious around him and Bruce stands facing Darkseid, a gun in his hand.

Dick sucks in a sharp breath. Not once had Bruce ever wielded a gun. 

“B…” Dick tried to move towards his mentor, but he couldn’t. Th distance wouldn’t close, just like with Jason.

He was too far away.

Bruce fired the gun.

And was hit with the Omega Sanction.

Dick screams as his mentor dies and Superman arrives, taking Bruce’s body into his arms.

Dick lets out a strangled cry as he sees Bruce’s body, the Batman suit burned in places and his face… oh god his face. Empty eye sockets and charred face revealing teeth and muscles.

Dick vomits.

~~~

_ “Come on Chum, it’s alright. Whatever you’re seeing, it isn’t real, you’re okay.” _

~~~

Dick’s eyes are clenched shut, he doesn’t think he can face the image of Bruce again.

“I’m right, Dick, I know I am!”

Tim?

Dick opens his eyes, he’s in the cave. Bruce is gone.

“Timmy, I don’t think you’re thinking clearly.” Dick finds himself saying. Why is he saying this? What is Tim even talking about?

“No, I know exactly what I’m saying. Bruce is  _ alive _ Dick, why won’t you believe me?” Tim’s expression was basically begging Dick to believe him, or at least hear him out.

“Tim.” Dick sighed. “We buried his body.” Had they? He can’t remember. But… Bruce’s body flashed through his head. “He’s dead.”

“Dick, He’s alive. And I’m going to save him, wether I have your support or not.” Tim told him firmly.

Dick reached out, but Tim was too far away to touch. When did he move? “Tim, you have to understand this sounds…”

Tim raised his eyebrows and asked incredulously, “Crazy? You think I’m crazy?”

Dick winced. “I didn’t say that, Timmy.”

“But you thought it.” Tim hissed. “Forget it. I’m leaving, and when I prove I’m right, you’ll see.”

Dick blinks and suddenly he’s in the dining room, sitting at the table across from Damian as Alfred comes into the room, expression sorrowful.

“Master Dick,” Alfred starts, and Dick knows he won’t like what he’s about to hear. “There are reports of Master Tim’s body being found. Miss Tamara Fox has confirmed it’s him… We’ve lost another.”

Dick can’t breath, the floor drops out from under him. This isn’t like with Bruce or Jason. Dick doesn’t just feel too far away. He  _ is _ too far away, Timmy was on the other side of the world, dead. And the last time Dick had seen him he’d called Tim crazy.

He doesn’t scream this time, but silent tears roll down his cheeks.

~~~

_ “Hey Dick… B said talking to you might help so, could you wake up? The Demon Brat’s even more insufferable without you, I didn’t think that was possible.” _

~~~

Suddenly, he’s falling. Crashing through a window.

Dick groans and sits up. 

Damian is fighting the Heretic.

Dick struggles to his feet and tries to get to them.

He can’t. He runs and stumbles and yells but he can’t reach them.

He watches in desperation as Damian fights, and struggles with indecision between a promise to a dead man and the only way out. Except even when he does make the decision, it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work and Dick watches as his little brother, the only one he has left, is killed in front of him a sword piercing his chest.

Dick screams and falls to his knees, sobs tearing their way out of his throat.

~~~

_ “Grayson I demand you wake up. You should know by now that I will never let anything hurt you. There’s nothing to be afraid of.” _

~~~

He’s alone now.

Bruce.

Jason.

Tim.

Damian.

They’re all gone and Dick is alone. He’s alone and he doesn’t want to be.

He wants his family, he wants his brothers who argue and bicker and fight and he wants his father who’s silent and awkward but tries.

He wants his family, but their gone.

Their dead.

And Dick is Alive.

Dick is alone.

~~~

Dick jerks up gasping for breath, rapid beeping echoes around him.

Hands place themselves on his shoulder and chest and try to push him back down, but Dick struggles.

“Goldie, Goldie, Dick! Dick you need to calm down!” A voice cries and Dick looks to the sources.

Black hair, white streak, teal eyes. Jason.

“Jason?” Dick whispers, breathing still heavy but strggles slowed.

“Yeah Dick, it’s Jason. You’re okay.” Jason confirms with a slow nod.

Dick flings his arms around Jason, burying his face in Jason’s neck. “You’re alive. You’re alive.” Dick sobs over and over.

Jason hesitates, but quickly places his arms on Dick’s back. “Yeah Dick, I’m alive. Death can’t keep me down, you know that.”

Dick gave a watery smile. “Yeah… yeah Jay.”

Dick looked up and noticed Tim, Damian and Bruce in the room too. Dick cleared his throat and let go of Jason, beckoning them over.

He needed to be sure. He needed to know they were really alive.

Bruce approached first and Dick ran a hand over the man’s face, remembering the charred skin, before he pulled the older man into a hug. “You’re alive.”

He repeated the process with Tim and Damian, neither protesting like they normally would. They all knew that Dick needed the physical contact, needed the reassurance. Especially if he saw what they all knew he saw.

Finally Dick pulled away from his brothers and wiped at his eyes. “What happened?” He asked, voice croaky.

“You got knocked out by some of Scarecrow’s men and he tested out a new version of fear gas on you.” Bruce answered.

Dick nodded as it started to come back to him now that he’d calmed down. “Right, do you… want a report?”

Bruce shook his head. “Maybe later, right now you need rest.”

Dick nodded, but panicked a little when they all went to leave. “Wait!” They paused. “Could… could you guys stay? Please?”

None of them responded, but they all moved back into the room.

Once they’d all settled, Damian and Tim on either side of Dick, Jason sitting in a chair to his right and Bruce to his left with a hand carding through Dick’s hair, Dick found himself relaxing into sleep.

His family was around him.

He wasn’t alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I personally believe that Dick's greatest fear is losing his family a second time. (Also, I couldn't kill Alfred, I'm sorry but that is a sin and I couldn't.)  
> I'm pretty sure everyone knows this, but I'll just state that everyone but Tim's death is canon.


	6. Mind Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paraphrased commentThe combination of Jason + Mind control, where the "controller" uses him to try to kill someone.  
> Requested by ElliFi28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The difference between the controller's commands and Jason's thoughts is that the commands are in parentheses.

The universe hated Jason.

This was a fact of life Jason had realized long ago.

He had a shitty childhood. Then when his life had started look up and he had everything he could have ever wanted: a dad, a brother who -while not always there and who fought with Bruce a lot - tried with Jason, and Robin, he had died. And when he’d come back someone else was where he used to be and everyone seemed perfectly fine. 

So really, he should have known that once he’d made common ground with the other bats and he felt part of a family again, the universe would intervene and ruin it all.

Jason tried to make himself stop as he approached Dick from behind, but his body moved on autopilot.

Dick turned, hearing his heavy footsteps and smiled. “Hey Hood, wasn’t expecting to see you tonight. I thought you were on patrol route 12C?”

_ “Play along.” _ A voice echoed through Jason’s mind.  _ Or we could not _ . Jason thought, viciously trying to break the control. For all the training Bruce had given them, it was only giving Jason the ability to be conscious while someone else controlled his body.

It sucked more than anything else.

Jason shrugged. “Decided to wing it and ditched planned routes. Don’t tell B.”

Dick snorted in amusement. “You know there are reasons we have specific routes, Little Wing.”

“Whatever, Dickhead.” Jason scoffed, and moved to stand next to his brother, leaning against the ledge of the building.

Dick groaned. “Ya know, I really hate that you guys can call me that in the field and get away with it.”

Jason smirked, “Sure you do. You love making shitty jokes about your name.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Well,” Dick pushed himself away from the edge of the building. “I have to get back to patrol, crime waits for no one in Gotham. You go back to winging it, I guess.”

Jason watched Dick turn his back and start walking away.

_ That’s it? _ He wondered.  _ This bitch had me track Nightwing down… and then just had me talk to him? _

_ “Kill him.” _ The voice ordered.

Jason’s mind froze. _ Fuck no _ , he thought even as he pulled one of his guns from its holsters.

Jason fought for control as his body took aim. He wasn’t going to be the reason another Robin died. He didn’t want that, not anymore, and Dick hadn’t even been his target before. 

For all his taunts and jabs he didn’t want this.

“Dick,” He managed to grind out.

Dick turned, “Yeah -?”

The gun went off and Dick ducked, eyes widening behind his mask. The bullet missed and Jason felt relief, even as a wave of magic infiltrated his mind, trying to insure he wouldn’t be able to pull a stunt like the warning again.

“Little Wing, what…?” Dick started before trailing off as Jason took aim again.

“Don’t move, Nightwing.” Jason growled.

_ Move, Goldie. _

Dick slowly raised his hands, trying to present himself as non-threateningly as a vigilante could. “Jason, what’s going on? What’s wrong? Talk to me.”

_ For the first time in my life, I wish I fucking could Dick. _

“What’s wrong?” Jason asked condescendingly. “You ruined my life, that’s what.” He fired the gun and Dick moved, taking off over the roofs, but starting a comm channel to Jason’s helmet.

_ Of course he’s still trying to talk me down _ . Jason couldn’t help the fondness for his older brother.  _ One day your empathy is gonna get you killed Goldie…. I hope it’s not today. _

“Jay, what do you mean? How did I ruin your life? Maybe I can fix it.”

“You can’t fix what you did to me, Nightwing. You can’t bring them back!” Jason yelled as he started chasing Dick.

_ The mage _ . Jason realized,  _ the mage is talking. _

“Who’s they? Jason, you’re not making any sense… what happened on patrol tonight? Did you run into someone?” Dick was clearly trying to puzzle everything together.

Jason fired the gun, and hit Dick’s leg. He saw him stumbled, catching himself with a hand before Dick continued to run.

“You don’t even remember the people you helped kill.” Jason growled, firing two more shots.

Dick fell and Jason slowed, walking at almost a leisurely pace as he approached his brother. Jason kicked him over so Dick was looking up at him.

“Jay, I’ve never killed anyone. You know that.” Dick reasoned, even as he tried to pull himself further away with his forearms as a precaution.

“You killed my sister.” Jason corrected. “She’d never done anything.  _ I _ was the one to blame, she had nothing to do with it! How could you let her die?”

Dick’s eyebrows furrowed. “You’re not Jason…” He whispered.

_ Took you long enough to figure it out _ . Jason wanted to sarcastically remark. It didn’t really matter anyway, the lady already knew who they all were. She’d been in Jason’s head.

“And you’re a dead man.” Jason aimed the gun at Dick’s head.

  1. Jason thought viciously, trying to stop himself. _No, no, no no no! Dick cannot die!_



The gun shook, Jason battling for control as magic attacked his mind again. It hurt, god it hurt and he could hear the mage hissing curses at him. It almost felt like hands were clawing at his body.

The hesitation was enough. Dick dragged himself slightly further away, as Jason felt a prick on his neck, just below his helmet and before his armor started.

Jason turned around, finding Batman standing there, jaw clenched and face stoic. Though Jason could see the signs of hidden rage in his mentor.

“You can’t stop me from killing him.” Jason whispered.

He blacked out.

~~~

Jason woke with a groan. He sat up and noted he was in the medbay.

Jason looked down at his hand and flexed it slowly. He was in control again.

“We called Zatanna. She got Puppet Master out of your head.” Dick said, sitting in a wheelchair next to Jason’s bed.

“Puppet Master?” Jason raised an eyebrow.

Dick shrugged. “This isn’t the first time I’ve had an encounter.”

“I figured.” Jason commented dryly. “You okay?” He motioned to the bandages around Dick’s legs, where Jason’s bullets had hit him.

Dick waved him off. “I’m fine. They’ll heal. How are you?”

Jason scoffed. “I’m not the one who got shot. ‘M fine Goldie, it was… weird but it’s not like I’ve never been mind controlled before.”

Jason tried to look out into the cave. He could hear someone working on the batcomputer. Probably Bruce.

Bruce.

Shit.

He was probably mad at Jason for going after Dick. Or, at the very least mad at Jason for getting caught and not being able to break out of Puppet Master’s control.

“How mad is Bruce?”

Dick sighed. “He’s not mad at you Jay. I mean, we’re probably all gonna have a repeat of our mind control training, which is gonna suck, but he’s not mad at you. He’s mad at Puppet Master.”

Jason nodded, doubtfully. He and Bruce were on better terms, but some days it still felt like he was walking on eggshells. “What did you ever do to her anyway?”

Dick slumped. “She… it was back during the Titan days. She was causing trouble and we were trying to take her down. We thought we had… kind of. It was her sister though, I guess. The building collapsed and we tried to save her, but we couldn’t.”

Jason put a hand on Dick’s shoulder, knowing his brother tended to blame himself even if he hadn’t done anything wrong. “That wasn’t your fault.”

“I know.” Dick answered. “I’ve already had this talk with B back then. I’m just sorry you got dragged into this.”

“It was more a pain than anything else.” Jason doesn’t bring up how scared he’d been when he thought he was actually going to kill Dick. Dick doesn’t need that on his shoulders.

Dick nodded slowly, likely not believing Jason entirely. “Alright Little Wing, get some rest. Zee said you were gonna be tired.”

“Well, I don’t.” Jason answered. “I need to patrol, it kinda got interrupted by Puppet Master.”

“Jay, it's the middle of the day. Rest.” Dick ordered. “Before I get Alfred.”

Jason heaved a heavy sigh, “Fine, but only because you threatened me with Alfred.”

Dick laughed. “Alright, I’ll go.” he wheeled himself out.

Jason laid back down and stared at the ceiling.

Yeah, the universe hated him. But he counted himself lucky it seemed to love Dick Grayson.

Things hadn’t come crashing down yet, but this was reminder that they could. Jason wasn’t gonna let that happen.

Fuck the universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end focuses a little on Dick, and I wasn't entirely sure how to end the story but I hope you enjoyed!  
> Also, the Puppet Master and her sister is made up, it didn't actually happen in the comics.


	7. Future/Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paraphrased comment: the prompt about "future/past" about Tim's past. The batfam think his past was decent (with sometimes absent parents) but they realize how bad it as. With physical abuse please  
> Requested by Animesoccergal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is Tim centric but each of the Robins (but Steph) gets a part with their point of view.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Tim stared at the large man who’d just entered the cave, in confusion.

“Jason,” Dick hissed, “He’s a kid, you can’t swear!”

Jason scoffed, “Damian’s a kid, I swear around him all the time.”

“ _ Damian _ fights crime and was raised by the League of Assassins.” Dick argued.

Jason raised an eyebrow. “Wait, does he not remember anything?” 

Dick shook his head. 

“Um,” Tim wasn’t sure if he should interrupt or not. HIs mother and father always said children were better seen and not heard, and if the man who’d brought him to the  _ Batcave _ wasn’t lying, then he was Dick Grayson, the ward of Bruce Wayne.

His parents would be furious if he disrespected Bruce Wayne. And he doubted Dick was lying, since  _ Batcave _ . Who other than Batman and Robin would know where the Batcave was? Though, Dick wasn’t Robin anymore, apparently.

Dick looked over. “Yeah Timmy?”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Tim spoke sheepishly, “But, can I ask why I’m here?”

“Ah, um… Your parents asked us to look after you while they were away?” Dick offered, hesitantly.

Tim tilted his head in confusion. “I can take care of myself. Mom and dad said so, I’m a big boy. Besides, they’ve been gone for a month already, why are you just now coming if they told you to look after me?” 

Dick cringed slightly and Jason stared at Tim curiously. “Look Timmy, we’re just gonna look after you for awhile, and I know you can keep a secret really well, which is why we let you in here. Let’s just leave it at that, okay? You trust me, right?”

Tim nodded determinedly. “Of course, you’re - you were? - Robin!” 

Dick smiled fondly. “Yeah, Timmy. I was Robin.”

“How long is he gonna be like this?” Jason asked suddenly.

Dick looked over and answered, “A week according to Zatanna, she stopped by earlier. Bruce is upstairs talking to Alfred.”

Jason snorted. “I am going to have so much blackmail on Replacement it might just be worth sticking around the manor for a while.”

Tim wondered wat he meant, but didn’t ask. He was determined that for as long as he was in the Waynes care he wasn’t going to burden them more than he already was. 

And he wasn’t going to give them any reason to punish him, like his mother and father had to when he was being bad.

~~~Dick~~~

Dick already knew that he hated Jack and Janet Drake. He’d known that since he’d met Tim and found out that his parents left him alone in a big, empty house for months on end.

Dick knew that Tim was affected by it, he remembered how the boy had acted when he first became Robin. But he supposed he forgot just how bad it had been, until he was faced with a small child version of his little brother, who had no memory of anything even close to his Robin years.

_ At least he already knew who me and Bruce were at this age _ , Dick thought to himself. It would have been so much harder to explain things or get Tim to trust them had he not.

Tim was sitting quietly as he watched Dick flick through a pile of movies he thought were age appropriate for Tim.

The family had decided that until the week was over someone should be with Tim during the night, and they were each going to take a turn. Dick had the first night and decided that they could watch something before he sent Tim to bed.

“So what do you wanna watch Timmy?” He asked, showing the child the options mostly consisting of Disney movies Bruce had bought when Dick was a kid.

Tim shrugged and ducked his head shyly. “Whatever you wanna watch is fine.”

Dick frowned, but nodded slowly choosing Atlantis from the pile. He thought Tim might enjoy it.

Once he’d put the movie in, Dick settled down on the couch next to Tim and put an arm around the boy’s shoulders. Tim was much too small for an eight year old, in Dick’s opinion, and he was sure Alfred agreed if the large portions of food he’d givenTim at dinner were anything to go by.

Tim tensed and looked up at Dick with wide eyes, clearly not expecting the gesture.

Dick smiled a little sadly down at Tim. “You don’t mind, do you?”

He shook his head quickly. “No, no. It;s fine.”

Dick turned his attention back to the screen and eventually he felt Tim reluctantly and slowly curl himself towards Dick’s side, almost like he expected Dick to withdraw at any moment if Tim moved.

Dick didn’t turn to look at the boy, but his lips pulled down into a small frown. He hated seeing his brother like this, touch starved and startled by affection. He’d gotten Tim through it before, after he’d become Robin and he guiltily remembered how Tim had startled at touch after coming back from saving Bruce, but it had never been as bad as when he was Robin.

Dick promised himself he was going to smother Tim in so much affection this week the boy would barely remember that he spent months on end in a lonely house with no one around that loved him.

~~~Jason~~~

Jason sat across the table from Tim, staring at the boy who stared right back.

It was his turn to watch the brat and he had no clue what to do. He supposed he could ask Alfred for tips, but the elderly man was down in the Batcave manning the comms and Bruce had said that under no uncertain terms was Tim to be allowed in the Batcave after they’d brought him in.

“You don’t like me.” Tim finally spoke up quietly. “Why?”

Jason’s eyes narrowed slightly as he gave the boy an appraising look. “Can’t tell you.”

Tim tilted his head forward a little. “I promise not to tell if you do. I’m really good at keeping secrets.”

That, Jason knew already. The kid had figured out who Bruce and Dick were when he was, well, his current age, and had never told anyone. Jason figured it couldn’t hurt. Maybe he’d finally be able to get out some of his anger at his replacement without Tim ending up unconscious, Jason refused to hurt someone who looked like a kid and had no memory of actually doing the shit Jason was made at him for.

“You become Robin.” He stated plainly.

Tim blinked, not expecting that. “What? I- I can be Robin!”

Jason scoffed. “Well, you do become Robin. You replace me.”

“I’m sure there was a good reason.” Tim tried to argue. “I’m sure I wasn’t even a good Robin. I’m sure I was terrible at it.” 

Jason raised an eyebrow, unsure if the kid actually thought that or if he was just trying to make Jason feel better. “And why do you think that?” Jason asked.

“Well, ‘cause I can’t be Robin.” Tim stated simply, like that explained everything. “Dick is Robin, and - since you said I replaced you - you’re Robin. You guys are, like, hope incarnate! Besides, DIck is super agile and you’re super strong. I’m not good at combat or roof jumping or anything like that. I’m not even smart.”

Jason raised an eyebrow and felt the need to point out, “You figured out who Batman and Robin were.”

Tim’s nose wrinkled and he looked at Jason like he was stupid. “Anyone could do that if they really tried. They aren’t  _ that _ good at hiding it.”

Jason snorted, but his thoughts lingered on what Tim said. The kid wasn’t entirely wrong, he didn’t look like the strongest kid around, and somewhere in Jason’s mind that fact had been nagging him since he saw little Tim. The kid wasn’t malnourished by any means, Jason knew what that looked like, but he was thinner than Jason would have liked any child to be.

And Tim sold himself short, Tim was one of three people to ever figure out Batman’s identity, and the other two were insane - well, Ra’s could be argued for but the Joker was definitely insane.

Jason stared at the kid for awhile longer, thinking on the conversation, and how Tim hadn’t even batted an eye when Dick had mentioned the cover of his parents being gone - hell he said the cover story didn’t fit because they’d already been gone for a month. Jason knew Tim’s parents left on trips sometimes, but maybe it was worse than he thought.

“So, yeah,” Tim continued when the silence had stretched. “I probably wasn’t even a good Robin. I’m sure Batman doesn’t even like me, no one does.”

Jason didn’t want to think about this, let alone have a discussion on an eight year olds apparent self esteem issues. It was so much harder to dislike Tim if he found out the kid had some sort of tragic backstory.

He stood. “Come on, Tiny Tim, let’s get you to bed.”

~~~Damian~~~

Damian huffed an annoyance, arms crossed as he glowered at the child hunched in on himself on the other side of the couch. It was friday night, and Tim was supposedly supposed to return to normal the next day. He hadn’t turned back fast enough, in Damian’s opinion.

“I should be out patrolling.” Damian grumbled.

“You don’t want to be here.” Tim hesitantly stated.

“No kidding, Drake.” Damian spat, “Way to state the obvious. God, you are as much a pain as a child as you are at your correct age.”

Tim hunched into himself even more before speaking up quietly, “You can go, if you want. I appreciate you guys watching me, but I’m alright on my own.”

“Father would be angry.” Damian countered, eyeing the boy suspiciously. He didn’t know what game Tim was playing, but he refused to fall into the trap.

Tim shrugged. “I won’t tell if you don’t. You’re Robin, right?” Upon Damian’s nod he continued. “Then you need to be out there. The city needs Robin, he shouldn’t have to watch one kid. I can take care of myself fine.”

Damian’s eyes narrowed. His father would be angry surely, but Tim was adamant and it would be hard to get the child to sleep if he fought Damian every step of the way. It felt odd to hear Tim call him Robin with no hint of bitterness or anger or hurt hidden in his eyes. This Tim knew nothing of what his heroes would do to him.

Damian almost wanted to ruin the illusion and tell Tim, though he had a feeling it would achieve nothing based on the boy’s behavior the whole week.

“Very well,” He finally said. He wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. If Tim wanted him to go, he would go. “I do not care when you sleep, just be in bed by the time Father, Grayson and Todd return, Drake.”

Tim nodded and Damian left, sneaking his way into the cave. 

Tim knew how to get out of the way as a child, at least. Damian didn’t know if he liked that that changed when he got older or not. Older Tim at least offered him a challenge, a competition, a rival.

This Tim was boring.

~~~

Tim was still up, even though it was well past 1 am.

He hadn’t been left alone at all the past week, and while it was a somewhat pleasant change, he found it overwhelming to constantly be around people. He could say the wrong thing at any moment and the nerves of it all had been fraying at his edges for quite some time.

But now he was alone, and Tim could feel the temptation of the Batcave gnawing at the back of his brain until he gave in and snuck in.

He hadn’t gotten to see the cave since Dick had brought him in, and he had refused to let himself have a proper freak out over all the cool things while Dick and Jason had been around.

It was too bad he still didn’t have that chance, as he heard shouting voices coming from below. Tim paused, halfway down the stairs, not wanting to interrupt or be caught somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be. He’d done so well not getting in trouble this whole week, he didn’t want to ruin it all now.

Even if Jason and Damian didn’t seem to like him either way, Dick, Bruce and Alfred seemed to.

“You were supposed to watch him, Damian! Not go out and patrol!”

Oh, so Bruce had found out about that. Tim didn’t see what the problem was, Tim had noticed Damian didn’t want to be there and he didn’t really need someone to watch him, so Tim had let him leave. It was a simple solution for a simple problem.

“Drake told me to leave. He said he was fine on his own.” Damian argued.

“Dami,” Dick’s voice said in exasperation. “You can’t listen to the eight year old who basically raised himself.”

Tim’s eyebrows furrowed, slightly offended. He hadn’t raised himself, his mother and father made sure he got an education and stopped by when they could, they taught him what was right and wrong and how to act. Sure they didn’t cook for him, or play games or talk about things he liked, but they were still there. He hadn’t raised himself.

“Damian,” Bruce spoke again, “You were supposed to watch him. I can’t just let this go.”

Tim’s eyes widened and he bounded down the last of the steps, putting himself between Bruce and Damian, both still in full vigilante uniform.

“Please don’t hurt him!” Tim cried, the cave suddenly silent as Dick, Damian Bruce and Jason all stared at him. “It wasn’t his fault. I told him to go. I should be the one in trouble! Hit me!”

The cave seemed to stop. The bats above went quiet and Dick sucked in a sharp breath. Jason swore under his breath, and Bruce’s hands clenched. Tim couldn’t see Damian.

“Tim,” Bruce said, voice gentler than before. “No one is hurting you or Damian. I just meant he was going to get a lecture.”

Tim lowered his hands slightly, from where he’d had them spread out, as if to shield Damian. Like he could have stopped Batman. “A… lecture?”

“Yes, Tim.” Bruce reassured him. “Why did you think I would hit Damian?”

Tim flushed, suddenly realising how badly he’d misinterpreted the situation. Of course Bruce wouldn’t hit Damian, he was  _ Batman _ . “S-sorry.” He mumbled, he refused to answer the question.

Batman would get angry at his father if he knew he hit Tim when he was bad. But it wasn’t ever bad! It wasn’t ever anything like Tim knew other kids had to deal with. His father only ever hit him when he deserved it.

The bats exchanged a look Tim didn’t notice and Dick moved over to pick Tim up.

“Come on, Baby bird. It’s way to late for you to be out of bed, let’s get you to sleep.”

Tim nodded slightly, burying his face into Dick’s shoulder, still embarrassed. Dick smiled a little, glad that he’d at least gotten Tim more comfortable with touch.

All of them agreed, Tim’s parents sucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't really think the how Tim got deaged was important so I really glossed over it, other than implying it was magic based. I figured Tim being deaged was the easiest and most reasonable way for the Bats to figure out how terrible Tim's parents really were.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	8. Forgotten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paraphrased comment: "forgotten" for Damian where the family got hit with a spell or something that makes them forget Damian  
> Requested by badgertablet

Damian blinked awake, staring at the smoggy sky of Gotham, a dull gray coloring from a hidden sun signaling that it was daytime.

Why was he still out here?

Damian tried to recall what had happened the night before.

He’d been on patrol with his father. They’d been looking into a human trafficking ring, except they hadn’t been able to get facial recognition on any of the people involved in the ring, nor the kidnapped. It had been strange, to say the least, and father had been acting more paranoid than usual.

Damian remembered getting fed up and leaping into action, ignoring his father’s order to wait. 

He had vague flashes of a fight, but the memories were spotty at best.

He thinks he might have heard chanting in some kind of language he didn’t recognise, but he couldn’t be sure.

Then nothing.

So, none of that helped explain to him why he was in a random Gotham alley during the day. Surely his father wouldn’t punish him for insubordination by risking their identities and leaving him in an alley without knowing when Damian would wake up.

“This is stupid,” Damian mumbled, pulling out his graple hook. Tim was never going to let him live this down when he found out.

For now, Damian just needed to pass whatever test or punishment this was from his father and get back to the batcave.

~~~

Damian scowled as he stared at the flashing  **Access Denied** on the screen after entering his password to enter the cave. “Really Father?”

Damian crouched down to open the circuit panel, ready to hack into the cave when he heard a cough behind him. 

His hand went to rest on his katana, and he turned. 

Dick stood behind him, arms crossed and an eyebrow quirked. “Who are you?” Dick tried to keep the question casual, but Damian could hear an edge underneath his eldest brother’s tone.

“Not you too Grayson.” Damian groaned. “How did Father get you to agree to this?”

Dick startled slightly, dropping his almost relaxed position and drawing his escrima sticks. “Who are you?” he asked again, tone harder this time. “And how do you know who I am?”

Damian’s eyebrows furrowed. “That is not necessary Grayson. I already know this is a test, you do not need to pretend to not know me.” He had to admit, it hurt a little. Dick had always seemed to be against his father’s more brutal tests, including ones playing mind games such as this.

Dick shook his head. “I need an assist.” he spoke into the comms and Damian tensed, wondering who would come next. 

The door opened behind Damian and he turned around, being met with Tim’s staff to the face. Damian stumbled back, holding his nose which bled from the impact.

Damian glared. “Drake, I will kill you for that.”

“Death threats,” Tim commented dryly, “those are always fun.”

“Agreed,” Dick replied, and Damian felt pain blossom in his shoulder where his brother hit him with his escrima sticks. Damian cursed himself for letting his guard down just because it was Dick, and turned so he could keep an eye on both Dick and Tim.

Damian stood in a stand off with his brothers, and he wondered vaguely if Jason was going to join the party, though he couldn’t see his final older brother doing anything his father suggested.

A hand clamped down on Damian’s shoulder and his eyes widened. Quickly Damian turned his head, to see his father behind him, a syringe in the hand not holding Damian and positioned at his neck. Damian hated how his father could sneak past all his defences.

“Took you long enough to show up, B. He knows who we are.” Dick stated.

“Do I need to use this, or will you come quietly?” Bruce asked.

Damian scowled, wondering how his father wanted him to respond. Was he supposed to respond by fighting, not letting the enemy get a further advantage of having him unconscious, or was he supposed to play along and think they’d gotten the best of him so he could launch a counter attack.

“I will play your game, father. Take me where you wish.” Damian finally stated.

Bruce’s lips turned down ever so slightly, before he led Damian into the cave.

~~~

The cuffs were an annoyance, but Damian knew he could pick them. He’d had to do so for training before. WHen he saw a chance, he would take it and pass this test and learn whatever lesson his father was attempting to teach him. 

HIs brothers stares were a bit unnerving though. “What?” he snapped.

Dick looked away, but Tim didn’t even flinch at the harsh tone.

Bruce entered the room and stalked over to Damian. “Who are you?” he growled.

Damian’s eyebrows furrowed. “Really father? Fine. I refuse to tell you who I am. Secret identities and all of that.”

As if Damian needed to be tested on this.

“You know who we are.” Tim countered. “How?”

Damian rolled his eyes, the movement visible to his family as they’d taken his mask. “Because, Drake, I do not need to pretend for whatever test this is. And I wish you would all stop patronizing me and drop the act as well.”

“What act do you think we have?” Dick questioned.

Damian’s eyebrows furrowed. Things were starting to not add up. Normally, Dick would do something - within reason - when Damian asked, and as stated previously Dick did not enjoy putting Damian through tests like his father.

Damian was beginning to think this wasn’t fake.

~~~

They left for patrol eventually. Alfred was on his annual sabbatical to England and Tim argued that with the trafficking ring still not handled they needed all hands on deck, so Damian was left alone.

Damian’s suspicions had continued to grow and more evidence to support them began to appear. Not once had Dick looked even remotely guilty or even glanced in Damian’s direction since first bringing him in.

Damian needed to check the batcomputer. As soon as the cave had been emptied, Damian had picked the cuffs and made his way over.

The first thing Damian checked was to see if his father had made a file on this test, and there was a file made that day, labeled  **Intruder** . Damian opened it, but it held little to no information other than a photo of Damian and a few notes that would have been easy to see or figure out since Damian had been caught.

Next, Damian searched his name. Nothing came up. ‘Damian Wayne’ and ‘Damian al Ghul’ both brought up nothing. A search of ‘Robin’ showed the most recent document to be about Tim, two years ago when Damian had become Robin.

Damian sat back in the chair, hands steepled as he thought. His father never would have deleted two years worth of files just for a test.

HIs mind went back to the trafficking ring they’d been investigating.

No one there had registered with facial recognition. No one had been reported missing in Gotham recently, not that big of a deal, but still something when there weren’t even rumors of people going missing on the streets. 

The chanting he remembered hearing.

Dick, Tim and his father all acting like they had no memory of him, and all files all passcodes relating to Damian were gone.

The puzzle pieces came together.

It was magic. And they had all really forgotten he existed.

Damian had to go.

~~~

He didn’t know why he sought out Jason. The chances of him remembering Damian were slim to none, but still Damian felt the need to try.

Some childish part of him was just hoping someone would remember, even if it was the wayward brother.

“Todd,” He called when he found the Red Hood on a rooftop. Jason froze and turned quickly, gun drawn.

“Who are you?” Jason demanded and Damian suddenly realized how bad of an idea this was.

Even as his heart plummeted into his chest Damian realized he couldn’t stay. He reached into his utility belt, grabbed some smoke bombs and dropped them.

As the smoke covered the roof he heard Jason swear and fire some bullets, but Damian didn’t stay long enough to find out how affective his smoke screen was in keeping Jason occupied.

He took off running across the roofs and didn’t stop until he was a good three blocks away, dropping into an alley.

Suddenly overwhelmed, Damian crouched down, running his fingers through his hair. He was alone.

His family had all forgotten him, all documentation of his existence was erased so he couldn’t prove anything. 

Damian didn’t exist. He was on his own.

For the first time in his life, Damian was willing to admit he was terrified. Damian wanted his family, he’d even take Tim.

The only question to ask now was: what does Damian do now?

~~~

The bats found him in the same position nearly an hour later. It was Dick who approached him, probably insisted when he saw how Damian was positioned because he was the gentlest of them when the situation called for it.

“Hey,” Dick greeted, crouching down. “Damian, right?”

Damian looked up hopefully. Had his family remembered?

“We saw your searches on the batcomputer.” Dick explained when he saw Damian’s look, and his shoulders slouched slightly. “We need to take you back to the cave. B isn’t very happy with you.”

“-tt- I imagine he’s not.” Damian responded softly. He stood up and made his way over to the rest of his family, posture straight. There was still hope. “I request that you get in contact with Zatanna, Doctor Fate, I will even take Constantine.”

Dick raised an eyebrow, looking down at him curiously. “I think we can do that.”

~~~

Damian finished explaining how he thought the trafficking ring was getting away with abductions and why none of them could be recognized or had any trace of a presence. And what he believes happened to him.

Zatanna, who had been summoned, spoke up. “There’s definitely a boat load of magic around him. I think I can undo it if I’m given enough time.”

Bruce nodded begrudgingly. “Fine, but he remains chained.”

Damian was willing to go along with it, if it meant this nightmare would end.

~~~

Zatanna had the counterspell ready by morning and Damian waited with baited breathe as she cast it. He had no idea what he would do if it didn’t work.

When she finished Damian noticed how they all seemed to pause.

Dick sucked in a sharp breath, drawing Damian’s attention from the group as a collective. He rushed over to Damian and dragged him into a hug.

“Dami, I am so sorry!” Dick cried. 

Damian slowly brought his arms around his eldest brother, eyes watering slightly. “It is alright Grayson,” He spoke, voice surprisingly, even to him, not shaking. “I will forgive you as long as you promise not to forget again.”

Dick ran a hand through Damian’s hand. “Of course, you don’t need to be scared.”

Damian drew the line.

He pulled away from his brother with a huff, crossing his arms. “Don’t be ridiculous. I was  _ not _ scared.”

Tim raised an amused brow, remembering how they’d found Damian the second time. “Sure, Demon Brat.”

Damian glared at his brother, but didn’t raise to the bait for once.

It was nice to be remembered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, I honestly concidered just ending the story at "The only question to ask no was: what does Damian do now?" But I couldn't do that to you guys so the parts after that are a bit rushed because I wanted to get to a happy ending without making the story too long.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	9. Harrassment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Comment: I was wondering if you could do harassment with Duke? I just wanna see his brothers protecting him.  
> Requested by Anonymous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DISCLAIMER: I am not African American, I am mixed race (Mexican) but I pass as Caucasian so I have never been subject to racism. If I have offended anyone, please let me know and I will take down the chapter.   
> WARNING: Racist behavior, mentions of police brutality, and someone almost says the n word

Duke was used to having to deal with things other people didn’t. He was used to being scared of the police, used to getting suspicious looks and used to ignoring comments from people who thought they had the high ground on him - wether because of social status or skin tone.

Maybe he’d been naive thinking it would get easier when Bruce took him in. To an extent, it did. Duke still had to be wary of police, maybe even a little more than he used to in some ways because of his identity as Signal, but now he had a brother on the inside and most knew better than to try anything when they realized who he was - who he knew.

There weren’t as many comments, at least that he heard. And social status was no longer a reason at least. That made it worse in some ways though, because now the only difference there was was skin tone, and Duke thought that was stupid. But people could be horrible, and Gotham tended to bring out the worst.

Galas were the worst, in the end. Duke often heard things said about not only him, but Dick and Damian.

Jason too, after he’d been legally brought back from the dead and returned to the family. But Jason just had to deal with comments about the slums.

Tim was safe, and Duke was glad that at least one of them was lucky.

No one ever said anything to Duke’s face, but they never did anything if they saw he was in hearing range. ANd Duke tended to stick close to Bruce, because everyone knew after years of experience with Dick and Jason, that ‘Brucie’ may be a loveable idiot, but he took no crap when it came to his sons.

Too bad Bruce had decided to play up the playboy act that night, and Duke really didn’t feel like watching the man flirt and have women all over him.

Tonight seemed to be the night someone decided to talk to him, as he was approached by two teens around his age.

“You’re Bruce Wayne’s newest ward, right?” One of the boys, a blonde, asked.

Duke nodded, and held out a hand. “Yeah, Duke.”

He noticed the boys eyeing his hand in disdain and withdrew it, realizing tonight was the night this all came crashing down. He was determined not to prove any of their ideas of him correct.

“You know you’re just, like, a pet to him right?” The second one, a brunet, spoke bluntly.

Duke raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

The blonde shrugged. “Yeah, you know Brucie Wayne. He likes different things. You and the rest? You guys are just… collectables to him.” he explained. “Except maybe the Drake kid.”

Duke’s grip on his water tightened. “I don’t think so.” He argued levelly. “Bruce is just nice. He’s a great man, even if he’s a bit airheaded.” He remembered to tack on something that fit with Bruce’s cover.

The brunet snorted. “Yeah right, he just knows better than to do anything that could get him in trouble.” His eyes critically analyzed Duke. “The public is so… sensitive about how we treat your kind now adays.”

Duke grit his teeth. He could not lash out. He could not lash out. Even if he was capable of knocking this douches on their butts, he could not give them any reason to support viewing him as less than human. “My kind?”

“Yeah,” The blonde said. “You know, n-”

The brunet went to stop the blonde before he could finish speaking, but a shadow falling over them stopped the blonde first.

The blonde’s eyes widened, seemingly realizing that was anyone listening to him he could have just gotten into major trouble. He turned around quickly, about to come up with an excuse.

Duke, who already knew who was behind them, smirked a little, hiding it by taking a sip of his drink.

Jason glowered down at the two. “Ya wanna finish what ya were saying?”

Duke almost snorted. Jason loved to layer his accent on thicker than usual when at galas just to get on peoples nerves. It was amazing how, even though they looked down on him, Gotham elites were scared of Jason.

The blonde swallowed thickly. “I-I wasn’t about to say anything.”

“Ya sure ‘bout that?” Jason checked.

The brunet and blonde both nodded sharply.

Jason moved his gaze over to Duke almost lazily, though his eyes remained sharp. “How ya doin’ Duke?”

Duke shrugged, “Fine, galas always feel like something out of a dream.”

‘Galas always feel like something out of a dream’ was the code the Waynes had come up with to say ‘SOS, get me out of here.’

Jason nodded. “Right, Dickie was lookin’ for us all. Bruce apparently left with some chick so we were gonna blow this popsicle stand.”

Duke nodded. “Sure.” He looked to the two boys still standing nervously, though they looked relieved, thinking they’d gotten away with what they were trying to do. “You two have a good night.” 

He and Jason left, meeting up with Dick, Tim and Damian, who were watching from a corner in the room.

“It looked like you needed a rescue, so I sent Jason over.” Tim said.

“Thanks,” Duke stated. “Can we head in for the night?”

Dick nodded. “Yeah, I already asked B.”

“Thank God, I didn’t know how much longer of this I could take.” Jason groaned.

~~~

“Galas suck.” Duke stated from where he was laying on his bed staring at the ceiling.

They had migrated to his room and were now scattered, doing their own things.

“Agreed” Dick said and Jason hummed.

Damian nodded. “I find them an annoyance.”

Duke couldn’t get the two boys words out of his head. He knew he shouldn’t be bothered by it, but it always did. He never understood how people could think like that; they were all human in the end.

Tim hesitated for a moment. “Yeah. Look guys, I’m not going to pretend I know what you go through. I was raised a socialite, and I’m Caucasian so I don’t have to deal with this stuff. But you guys are my brothers, and you should know that what other people think doesn’t matter.” He paused. “You should really just sic Bruce on them one of these nights though. Or let me rain hellfire down on them in their political pursuits.”

Duke smiled. “Thanks Tim.”

“I’m serious, I already know who those two boys parents are. I can wreck their image.”

Jason laughed.

“Tell you what,” Duke said, “If they try anything again,  _ then _ you can ruin their lives.”

Tim shrugged. “Alright. That goes for you three as well.” He told Dick, Jason and Damian.

“Maybe some other time Babybird.” Dick said in amusement.

Duke closed his eyes, thoughts clearing. It was nice, to be able to have this support, brothers who would rescue him and get revenge. 

It sucked that people still thought that way, it sucked people said things like that, but at least he had family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fully believe that both Bruce and Tim would ruin the lives of anyone who messes with Dick, Jason, Damian, Duke or Cass (even though she's not in the chapter) at a gala.  
> Again, if I have offended anyone please let me know and I'll take down the chapter and rewrite this prompt.  
> Hope you enjoyed.


	10. AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paraphrased comment: AU for reverse batfam au Dick-centric. Dick is newly adopted and has a nightmare and his older brother Duke comforts him

Dick woke with a scream, images of his parents falling flashed before his eyes, and when he looked down his hands were covered in blood.

Dick curled himself into a ball, body shaking. He wanted his parents, but they weren’t here.

Dick peered over the edge of his blankets at the door, half expecting Bruce to show up. He’d only been living in Wayne Manor for two weeks, since… hi shivered again. Everytime Dick had had a nightmare, Bruce had shown up about a minute later with comforts on his tongue.

It had felt almost like a betrayal to his parents, but Bruce and he had made an agreement the first day Dick moved in. Dick did not have to view Bruce as a father or call him his father. 

Bruce wasn’t there, and Dick vaguely remembered Bruce and the others talking about Bruce being away on some kind of business trip until the weekend, three days away. Dick hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but suddenly he wasn’t so sure he would be able to survive the next few nights.

Dick buried his head in his pillow, tears running down his cheeks as he remembered.

A soft knock came from Dick’s door and he tensed slightly, wondering who it was. Probably one of his brothers - that… that wasn’t a betrayal, right? He’d never had a brother, and Damian, Duke, Tim and Jason were nice, for the most part.

Dick hoped it wasn’t Damian or Tim. Damian was kind of mean, and he didn’t seem to like Dick that much. And Tim scared Dick sometimes, for the most part he was really cool and smart and nice but sometimes… sometimes he got this look in his eyes and his scarred lips looked too much like a wide grin and he would snap and yell at everyone. Dick didn’t like him when he got like that, even if he thought he understood after Bruce had sat him down and explained that something really bad had happened to Tim.

Dick pulled his head out of his pillow to look over at the door again and saw his second oldest brother.

“Hey,” Duke greeted softly. “I heard you from down the hall.”

Dick sniffled, “Sorry.”

“Hey, no.” Duke’s voice lightly admonished. “You don’t need to apologise, Dick. It’s alright.” he came over to the bed and sat down. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“I keep seeing them.” Dick mumbled, shifting his position so his head was resting on Duke’s thigh. “I keep seeing their blood… I miss them.”

Duke sighed. “I know, I know Dick.”

They were quiet for a minute and then Duke spoke again. “You know, I lost my parents to.”

Dick looked up at him. “Really?”

Duke nodded, “Yeah.”

“Does it ever stop hurting?” Dick asked.

“Not entirely,” Duke answered, running his fingers through Dick’s hair. “But it hurts less. They wouldn’t want you to hurt, Dick. They’d want you to be happy.”

Dick sniffled. “I know. My… my mom, she used to call me her Little Robin. She said I was her hope and that I was like a bird flying. Now, I can’t even think about the trapeze without being afraid, I don’t want to fall. Does… does that make me a bad son? Because I can’t keep her memory?”

Duke shook his head. “No, Dick, no. You’re not a bad son. Anyone would be afraid after seeing what you saw. You can move past it, I’ll help you if you want. These things, they take time.”

Dick nodded, “Alright.”

Duke nudged his head and Dick glanced up. Duke smiled softly, “And hey, if you do ever fall, once you start flying again, Damian, Jason, Tim, Bruce and I will  _ always _ be there to catch you, okay?” 

Dick smiled. “Okay.”

His eyes were heavy and he felt tired. Dick closed his eyes, falling into sleep. There were no more nightmares that night.

~~~

Dick stood on the platform, eyes closed and taking a deep breath. He leapt and found a trapeze waiting for him for the first time in five months.

When he came down, Duke stood there a blinding grin on his face. “That was amazing. The family Robin.”

Dick paused.

Duke’s smile dimmed. “Ah, sorry. Should I not call you that? I just remember… you told me your mom used to call you that.”

Dick smiled and shook his head. “No, it’s fine. You can call me that.”

It felt right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I debated on doing this in Duke's POV or Dick's but decided on Dick's. The scene at the end was just for fun.  
> Also, unrelated but i wanna talk about what I think the hero names would be. Because I've always kind of had a problem with Robin being the hero name even before Dick showed up. Dick picked Robin specifically because of the ties it had to his family, and I can't see Damian picking Robin by choice, he wanted Robin because of the existing meaning and legacy of the name as Batman's closest partner. I think it would have been, like, Shrike or something and that would have been the mantle passed down. I also think Damian would have gone on to become, like Shadow or something not Nightwing because Dick chose Nightwing because he and Superman were close and Nightwing comes from a Kryptonian legend. I think Dick would have just skipped the mantle of Shrike altogether when he finds out about his family's activities and chosen to go by Robin. Thank you for coming to my tedtalk!


	11. Alternate Timeline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paraphrased comment: "alternate timeline", Dick-centric. The others do something to make Dick wonder if they'd be better off without him and he ends up in an alternate timeline where Bruce never took him in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: mentioned suicide

Dick knocked on Damian’s door lightly, hoping he could spend some time with his youngest brother.

“Go away,” Damian called through the door. “I am busy, Grayson.”

Dick slumped a little, but knew better than to bother Damian. The boy would usually make time for Dick, if he wasn’t really busy or annoyed, so Dick decided to let it be.

Maybe he could hang out with Tim instead, it felt like it had been forever since they had last spoken about anything outside of the night work, which Dick couldn’t help but blame himself for.

Tim was working in the main living room, laser focused on his laptop as he took a long sip from his coffee. Dick flopped down next to Tim and looked at the screen. A case on the serial killer who’d recently popped up, Dick had been wondering which Bat Bruce had on it.

Dick stood up, Tim didn’t even seem to notice he’d been there in the first place. The case was more important, Dick didn’t want to be the reason anymore people got killed.

Dick heard a curse from down the hall and raised an eyebrow in surprise. When he went to investigate he found Jason in the kitchen, a bowl of half made cookie dough splattered on the floor.

“Don’t let Alfie hear you say that.” Dick said in amusement.

Jason looked up with a glare. “Don’t even joke about that. He’s going to know somehow and call. He’s supposed to be taking a break from our shit, he’s got enough to worry about with that sick family member in England, Dickhead.”

Dick laughed lightly. “Right, well do you want some help?”

Jason shook his head. “Nah, you’d probably burn ‘em. I’m not sticking around long, just so you know. I’m just here to bake ‘nd then I’m leaving, the oven at my apartment broke.” Dick doesn’t point out each of Jason’s safehouses had kitchens.

“Alright, you sure?” Dick motioned to the mess and Jason threw a hand towel at him.

“Get out.” 

Dick gave his brother a parting smile before slipping out, expression immediately dropping once he was out of view. 

Dick made his way to his room and flopped onto his bed, staring blankly at his ceiling, not noticing the tears beginning to silently make their way down his cheeks. Damian and Tim were too busy to spend time with Dick, Jason had refused his help, Duke was on patrol, Bruce had been away on an off world mission for two weeks now and they had no idea when he’d be back, Alfred was away in England and the girls were off doing their own thing so Dick saw no reason to be out of bed.

_ This is the first time _ , Dick realized.  _ This is the first time I’m spending the anniversary of their deaths alone. _

~~~

It was never a good idea to leave Dick on his own on days that reminded him of his parents. The whole family knew it and all tried to make sure someone was with him on their birthdays and the anniversary of their deaths, and yet somehow they’d all managed to forget about it this year.

_ I wonder what would have happened if I’d died with them. _ Dick thought absently.

He thought of Damian, who treated Dick like a nuisance most of the time. He thought of Jason, who hated him and who Dick had failed by not being there. He thought of Tim, who he’d basically ripped the only remaining support from in Tim’s greatest moment of need. He thought of his brothers, whose fraying, often times violent relationships could all be traced back to Dick in some way.

“They’d be better off without me.” Dick whispered.

His head pounded from crying, and Dick felt so heavy and tired. He just wanted to sleep. So he did.

~~~

_ “Oh, my Little Robin. How wrong you are.” _

~~~

Dick blinked awake, and found himself in an alley. 

“What? How did I…” Dick mumbled in confusion.

“Who the fuck are you?” Dick looked over and saw a boy with blue eyes and hair long enough that it was starting to curl. He looked like Jason, or at least, what Dickhad always thought Jason would look like if he hadn’t died.

“Jason?” Dick questioned dumbly.

The boy’s eyebrows furrowed. “How do ya know my fucking name?”

Dick went to give an answer when the sound of boot clad feet made their way over and Jason swore, turning around.

“Hey Jay.” The voice was naesally, and Dick tried to peer around Jason to see who was speaking. It was a man wearing way too much leather to even look remotely fashionable, which everyone would say meant something coming from Dick, considering his fashion sense. His hair was greasy and hung limply around his face, and shoulders. He noticed Dick quickly and gave him a once over, eyes calculating but also appreciative. Dick didn’t want to deal with this today. “Who’s your new friend?”

Jason shifted. “No one, Rudy. The hell do ya want?”

Rudy raised his hands up and mockingly said, “Now, now Jay. I was jus’ wonderin’ when ya were gonna stop by next. We miss ya when yer not around.”

Dick tilted his head, wondering what was happening. He knew Jaosn didn’t like to talk about his connections to the underground world around the family, but that didn’t explain the situation, nor why Jason looked so different. He had all but refused when Dick brought up dying his white streak, saying that it was a reminder of how he’d changed.

“When I need money. Get outta ‘ere, Rudy.” Jason snapped.

Rudy threw up his hands. “Whatevah ya say, Jay. See ya ‘round.” He turned his attention to Dick. “‘Nd I hope to see you too, Pretty Boy.” 

Dick wrinkled his nose in displeasure but refrained from saying anything. He was honestly surprised Rudy hadn’t recognized him yet, but he wasn’t going to give the man anymore reasons to attack him.

Rudy left and Dick turned back to Jason, who eyed him carefully. “

“Look, I dunno who ya are, but yer dressed nice so Imma guess ya aren’t from here. Don’t stick around.” Jason commented before he too left.

Dick’s eyebrows furrowed as he wondered just what was going on for the millionth time. He ran a hand down his face and pulled out his phone, planning to call the manor and ask Tim for a ride home.

The phone rang three times before someone picked up.

“Hello, you’ve reached the Wayne residence. May I inquire who is calling?”

Dick blinked in shock. “Alfred? What are you doing at the manor? You’re supposed to be in England.”

“Pardon me, but may I ask who you are and how you know me? My trip to England is not for another two months.” Alfred responded.

Dick’s eyes narrowed and he moved to look at the date on his phone. Had he somehow lost his memory? No, the date was the same.

“Um,” Dick didn’t know how to bring it up to the butler. “Well, anyway Alfred, could you ask Tim to come pick me up? I’m not entirely sure where I am, but he can track my phone.”

There was a pause. “Sir, there is no one by the name of Tim that lives here.” 

“What? Of course there is.” Dick insisted. “Tim Drake? 3rd Robin? Ringing any bells?”

Alfred’s voice took on a cold tone. “Sir, I am not quite sure what a ‘Robin’ has to do with anything, though I suggest you do not speak of the dead such as this. Goodbye.”

The line went dead and Dick stared at his phone in shock.

The dead?

Quickly, Dick pulled up google and searched ‘Tim Drake’. The top result was an article by Vicki Vale.  **Years of neglect cause young child of Gotham socialites Jack and Janet Drake to take his life** .

Dick paled and clicked on the article, scrolling through it slowly, dread filling him with every word. According to the article, Tim had died what would have been a year after he became Robin, while his parents were off on some dig. He’d been found a week after dying. 

Dick dropped the phone. What the hell? HIs mind scrambled to piece together what was going on. Jason, who looked so different, Tim  _ dead _ … was DIck in an alternate universe? He had to be. Except, that wouldn’t explain why the information on the phone from his universe had changed.

He needed to know what had happened to the rest of his family either way.

Dick picked the phone back up and started searching. 

Damian was still with the League of Assassins. There were pictures of him with Talia and Ra’s. Dick closed his eyes and thought of his younger brother, who’d come so far from the life he’d lived in the League and his heart hurt for this version of Damian, who’d never experienced true love and affection.

Next he googled the girls, Cass brought no results and Dick could only guess that meant she was still an assassin. Stephanie was in college, living a normal life and Dick smiled, she deserved it.

Barbara wasn’t paralyzed. Relief swept through Dick, but he wondered how she’d managed to avoid that situation with the Joker. She was working as a librarian, apparently.

Nothing seemed different about Bruce, in this universe, except that he was running his playboy persona more than he had in years. 

Finally, Dick searched his name. His heart stopped.

He fell.

He fell with his parents.  _ That _ was the difference here? That was why Tim was dead and Jason was still on the streets and Damian and Cass were stuck in lives neither of them deserved?

‘They’d be better off without me.’ He remembered saying. “I guess they’re not,” He spoke to thin air.

~~~

Dick woke up in his bed. He sat up slowly, wondering if that was all a dream.

There were three distinctive weights surrounding him and Dick looked down to see his brothers. Damian was curled up by his feet and Jason and Tim were on either side of him.

“We’re sorry we forgot, I’ve just been busy.” Tim mumbled, clearly guilty. “Have you visited their graves yet?”

Dick nodded, drinking in the image of Tim looking relaxed, though slightly worried. He thought of that other world, where his little brother was dead. “Yeah, it was the first thing I did today.”

Tim nodded.

“Wanna watch a movie?” Jason offered. “Those cookies I was making earlier are done too.”

Dick smiled. “Sure, can we watch Lilo and Stitch?”

Damian groaned, but none of his brothers would deny him his favorite movie.

_ They do love me, _ Dick realized, though he’d always known.  _ Maybe they’re bad at showing it, but they do. They need me, like I need them. _

Dick wondered why he’d ever doubted it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mary Grayson coming in with some ghostly intervention! I don't believe at all that any of them would forget about Dick's parents' death anniversary but I needed something to happen.  
> Second, this is how I thing the timeline where Dick died with his parents panned out: So we all know that Bruce took Dick in because he saw himself in Dick and he didn't want Dick to end up like him, this obviously doesn't happen in this timeline because Dick is dead. Jason still tries to steal the tires off the batmobile and Bruce still lets him go, but I don't think Bruce would have taken Jason in if he hadn't had prior experience raising a kid via Dick, I don't think Bruce would have thought he was capable of raising a kid if he didn't know where he was going or what to do, with Dick he had a guideline kind of, the end goal was don't let Dick end up like Me. Jason never had any such guideline. So, Bruce doesn't take Jason in and Jason stays on the streets. Tim, without Robin, never figures out Batman's identity and no one can convince me that Tim didn't have depression and wouldn't have killed himself eventually if it wasn't for the fact that he was the only one who knew who Batman was and Batman needed a Robin. Barbara never got involved without Dick around, Stephanie probably became Spoiler for a little bit but got out of the superhero business after she'd finished off with her father. Cass wouldn't have gotten out of the assassin thing without Babs. Damian did end up with Bruce for a little while, but this Bruce has had no experience with kids and doesn't know how to handle Damian and get him on the right path, so Damian and Bruce end up fighting and eventually Damian decides he can learn nothing from his father and goes back to the League of Assassins.  
> That's how I picture the timeline going down.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	12. Running Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paraphrased comment: Jason and "running away". Jason's a former street kid so he struck gold being adopted by Bruce, but always worried it would go away. So Bruce catches him preparing bags just in case and talks to him about it.  
> Requested by White_Tiger94

For the first time in his life, Jason was happy.

He didn’t have to worry about getting beaten by his father, or having enough money, or his mom, or getting food or finding a place to sleep. 

His father was in prison and while his mom was gone, he was glad she was at least in a better place. And he was living with a billionaire who seemed to like him well enough, had a roof over his head and a butler who made heavenly food. Not to mention, the earlier mentioned billionaire was apparently Batman, and was training him to be Robin.

His life was  _ good _ and the thought scared him.

If there was one thing he’d come to realize in his childhood it was that nothing good ever lasted. If his dad left him alone for a few days and treated him decently, it was only because he wanted Jason’s help with a job. If his mom seemed like she was doing better, a relapse would hit her like a truck and he was right back at square one trying to chase away her dealers. If he found decent food, he’d get caught and have to make a run for it. If he found a dry place to sleep some asshole would show up and fight him for it.

Nothing good ever lasted, so Jason was waiting for the other shoe to drop with this situation. He would be prepared for the inevitable moment when shit hit the fan and Bruce kicked him out.

And part of being prepared was packing up a to-go bag. 

So it was as he was cramming some of the many clothes Alfred had supplied him with into a duffle bag that Bruce knocked on his door.

Jason swore softly, and dumped the duffle under his bed. “Come in,” He called and the door opened to reveal Bruce in casual clothes.

“Hey,” He greeted. “I was wondering if you wanted to do some training before I head out on patrol tonight?”

Jason gave a jerky nod, “Yeah, sure.” 

Bruce raised an eyebrow at Jason’s disgruntled response. “Is everything alright?” He asked, hesitating to step into the room. Jason knew the man hadn’t quite figured out how to act around Jason, who was very clearly different from Dick, Bruce’s ward before Jason.

“Everything is fine, B.” Jason told him. “Let’s go train.”

Bruce watched him for another moment before nodding and following Jason out of the room. Sometimes Jason was glad the man’s title as the world’s greatest detective didn’t seem to carry to his life outside the mask.

~~~

The weekend after Jason had decided to make and packed him emergency bag Bruce came into his room while he was doing homework.

“One minute,” Jason said, not looking up from the english paper he was writing.

“Jason,” Something in Bruce’s voice set off an alarm in Jason’s head and he turned.

“What?” Jason asked, when he saw the serious expression on Bruce’s face.

“I’ve been wanting to ask you something for a while now,” Bruce started.

Jason took a deep breath.  _ This is it _ , he thought,  _ He’s gonna kick me out. _

“I was wondering if you’d let me adopt you.”

Jason’s brain froze. “Wha- seriously?” He questioned incredulously.

Bruce nodded. “Yes, Jason. I care about you and I’m open to the idea if you are.”

Bruce… wanted to adopt him. Batman wanted to adopt him. He hadn’t even adopted Dick! Adoption was… permanent. Jason wasn’t as scared of the thought as he thought he would be. 

There was no shoe that could drop if he was adopted. Well, there was, but it probably wouldn’t. Bruce couldn’t get rid of him without a bunch of bad publicity if he adopted Jason. 

“Sure,” Jason breathed.

Bruce’s lips turned up at the corners. “Alright. I already have the papers, I’ve been trying to figure out hos to ask for the past week now. We’ll head down to the courthouse tomorrow.”

He stood and went towards the door as Jaosn turned back to his desk, suddenly thinking about everything but the book they were reading in English class.

Bruce paused. “Oh, you might want to unpack that duffle now.”

Jason’s head whipped around. “How did you -?”

Bruce chuckled. “No one can hide anything from Alfred, not even me. He mentioned I might want to get on with popping the question.”

Jason wrinkled his nose. “Don’t make it sound like you asked me to marry you.”

“Good night, Jason.” Bruce said, laughter in his voice.

“Night.” Jason responded and he watched as his soon to be adopted father closed the door.

Jason’s life was good. And maybe it would stay that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And then the Joker happens.  
> Not exactly the request and it's before Bruce adopts Jason, but I hope you like it!


	13. Doubts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paraphrased comment: Tim doubting his role in the family because of Jason and Damian making fun of him.  
> Requested by ummmmmmmmmm_idk

Dick was the charismatic one.

Jason was the cool, rebellious one.

Damian was the adorable, bratty one.

What was Tim?

He often found himself wondering that, what was his place in this meshed up family of vigilantes? The answer? He didn’t have one. He’d known that when he’d joined, when he’d all but forced Bruce to take him on as Robin. 

Tim had been prepared for the inevitable moment when someone actually fit to be Robin came along and Bruce gave them the mantle, back then. But he’d gotten relaxed, he’d let his guard down. He had friends, he lost friends, he lost his parents and by the time Damian showed up Tim wasn’t as ready as he’d been when he started.

That was his own fault, he’d known it would end eventually. He’d known he didn’t have a place with them.

So why was he there? Why was he still trying to hold on like some kind of parasite?

Tim watched the post-patrol chaos quietly. Dick had stolen Jason’s jacket and was doing a bad impression of the Red Hood. Jason was demanding for his jacket back and groaned about how “He did not act like that. Shut the fuck up Goldie!” Damian merely rolled his eyes and scoffed at his brothers as he changed out of his Robin costume, only to be dragged into it when Steph stole his katana and started her own impression.

Maybe it was time he left. He’d only gotten involved because Bruce had needed a Robin, had needed someone to keep him in check. Tim glanced over at Bruce who was - in the language of Bruce’s micro expressions - smiling fondly at his children.

Bruce was certainly alright now, Tim wasn’t needed anymore and he certainly wasn’t wanted.

Tim thought of what had happened earlier that night.

~~~

Seeing as they’d long ago hashed out Jason’s issues with Tim being his replacement, it had come as a surprise when Tim had rushed to help Jason when he’d sent a distress signal and Jason’s immediate shout was, “Fuck, I don’t need help from  _ you _ , Replacement!”

Tim blinked, pausing for a millisecond before arching his bo staff into a ninja. “So we have to deal with ninjas now? They don’t even look League trained!” He ignored Jason’s yell and tried to go for witty banter.

“No, they’re definitely from Ra’s.” Jason growled. “Recognized a few from my time training.”

Tim nodded in acknowledgement, ducking under the sword of one of the ninjas. They were focusing mostly on Jason, who was clearly their target, but did their best to distract Tim.

“Would you just get lost?” Jason snapped, and Tim didn’t know if he was talking to the ninjas or him, until he added, “I can wait for Nightwing or Robin, hell even B! I don’t need you, Pretender.”

Tim rolled his eyes, trying to ignore the hurt pooling in his stomach. He’d honestly thought they were getting better. “By the time any of them get here, you’ll be minced ninja meat.”

Jason scoffed in response and the two continued to fight without the commentary that would normally come. Eventually, backup arrived in the form of Nightwing and Robin and the four were able to finish off enough ninjas that the rest chose to retreat.

“You guys good?” Dick asked in concern.

“Fine,” Jason grunted.

“Yeah, I’m good.” Tim answered, the ninjas had avoided doing any major damage to him, which Tim had no doubt was because of Ra’s’ obsession with him.

“-tt- of course, Nightwing. No thanks to Red Robin.”

Tim whirled on Damian, really not in the mood for whatever Damian’s problem was tonight. “What’s that supposed to mean, brat?”

“It means, you were as useless as ever. You barely took down three ninjas since Nightwing and I arrived.” Damian responded.

“Robin,” Dick spoke, tone only slightly admonishing.

“Kid’s right,” Jason spoke up, holstering his guns. “Red was more of a distraction than a help.” 

Tim glanced at Jason, hurt hidden behind his mask. Seriously, he’d thought they’d gotten past their issues. “Whatever,” Tim mumbled. “If you guys don’t need me, I’m just going to leave.”

He pulled out his grapple hook and took off into the night, none of his brothers stopped him.

~~~

_ “If you guys don’t need me, I’m just going to leave.” _

Maybe it was about time Tim did that.

~~~

Bruce found Tim on one of the patios, looking up at the sky with dark hair falling away from his face.

“Tim,” He greeted, joining his son.

Tim’s eyes flicked over to him for a moment before returning to the sky. “Hey Bruce.”

Bruce watched his son, something seemed off in the way Tim held himself, almost like he was trying to make himself as small as possible and disappear. “Penny for your thoughts?”

There was a pause.

“I’m leaving.” He finally murmured.

Something heavy settled in Bruce. “On a business trip? Alright. When will you be back?”

Tim sighed, breathe fogging in the air, and shook his head. “No, I’m  _ leaving _ .”

A pain blossomed in Bruce’s chest, and he struggled to think of what was wrong. He had just gotten all of his sons back, he hadn’t thought he’d lose this happiness so soon.

And he hadn’t thought it was Tim he had to worry about.

Things were repaired with Jason, but he was under no illusion that it was not easily breakable still. He and Dick hadn’t fought nearly as much since Tim had first become Robin, but when they did it wasn’t pretty. He’d even worried about Damian getting fed up of him and running away.

But never once had he worried about Tim leaving. It didn’t seem possible, when the boy had refused to even when Bruce did his best to drive him away as a child and when Tim had risked everything to find Bruce.

“Why?” Bruce asked, the question sounding strangled.

Tim looked over and gave him a tired, sad smile. “You don’t need me.”

Suddenly, Bruce sees a young boy on his doorstep living in a big, lonely house instead of the seventeen year old in front of him.

“Batman needs a Robin.”

Maybe he should have seen this coming.

“Tim,” Bruce started, trying to figure out how to approach the situation. Why was fighting psychopaths every night easier than holding an important conversation with his children?

_ Because you have unresolved trauma from your childhood that has caused you to be unable to emote properly. _ A voice sounding suspiciously like Dinah says in his head.

“You know that just because we don’t need you doesn’t mean you can’t stay here, right?”

Tim looked at him curiously. “I mean, I guess? But I don’t want to be in the way Bruce, I don’t… I’m not really a part of the family. You know I know that, right?”

Bruce’s heart hurt hearing Tim say that. “Of course you are, Tim. You’re my son.”

“Out of convenience.” Tim shot back. “You couldn’t really have Robin being sent away somewhere far from Gotham. I’m not Robin anymore, and I’m emancipated, Bruce. You don’t have to be stuck with the Robin you never wanted anymore.” He finished dryly.

“Tim…” Bruce trailed off. He didn’t know how to respond to that. Tim had years of evidence to support his statement, and Bruce knew he hadn’t been great to Tim during his years as Robin, loss and hurt left over from Jason causing him to try and push the boy away from him emotionally and train Tim harder than he had Dick and Jason, harder than he was Damian.

“You don’t have to say anything.” Tim smiled sadly. “I just figured I’d let you know.” He pushed himself away from the edge of the patio and started back inside the manor. Bruce’s gut instinct told him he was going to pack.

_ Talk. _

_ God damnit Bruce Wayne, use your words for once in your life. You’re going to lose him! _

“Robin is a symbol.” Bruce blurted.

Tim paused, halfway to the door leading inside. “I know,”

“But so are Nightwing, Red Hood and Red Robin.” Bruce continued. “So are you, Dick, Jason and Damian.”

Tim’s eyebrows furrowed and he took a half step towards Bruce, almost looking hopeful for a second. “How so?”

It was Bruce’s turn to look up at the sky, unable to look at his second youngest son as he spoke. “Nightwing is hope, similarly to Robin, Dick gave both mantles that symbol. Dick, himself, is… light. He’s a light in the dark.” He knew Tim had put together that Bruce was talking about what each of his sons meant to him, specifically. 

“Red Hood, is… he’s a symbol of justice, a different kind than Batman, he’s a symbol of deliverance, he frees people from pain Batman can’t, as much as I hate to admit it. Jason is simultaneously hope, proof of good in the world and that no one is a lost cause, and a reminder that I have to constantly strive to be better.”

“Robin is hope, but it always has room for a second symbol, the one of the person wearing it. Damian is change, he shows that you don’t have to let your past define you.”

“And… me?” Tim speaks hesitantly, almost like he’s afraid Bruce will say he represents nothing. 

“Red Robin is… I can’t really think of a word that encompasses what he represents. He symbolizes carrying on, moving forward but not letting go of what’s been lost. And Tim…” He looks at Tim now, realizing Tim had moved to stand next to Bruce, peering up at his father with a hopeful expression.

“You are my anchor. You keep me grounded and pull me back when I stray too far away.” Bruce finishes.

Tim sniffled, tears pooling in his eyes but not falling. “I think you mixed up your metaphor a bit there,” he tried to joke, laughing wetly.

Bruce smiles a little. “Maybe. Tim, I love you. You’re more than a replacement for Jason. You are a part of this family, we all care about you, even if none of us are very good at expressing it. But if you want to make it about necessity, I need you Tim.”

Tim smiled and hugged Bruce. “Thanks, B.” he mumbled into his chest.

Bruce wrapped his arms around Tim protectively. “So, you’re not leaving?”

“No… No, I think I’ll stay.” 

Bruce’s shoulders sank in relief. “Good, now let’s get to bed.”

Tim nodded, pulling away to wipe at his eyes. “Alright.”

~~~

Dick was the charismatic one.

Jason was the cool, rebellious one.

Damian was the adorable, bratty one.

Tim was the one you could count on to be there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I realized that I've written basically no Bruce and wanted to fix that. (Plus I wanted to write him emoting properly for once and telling at least one of his sons what each of them really means to him.)  
> The beginning/ending lines were inspired/taken from (but not word for word) that one rebirth panel where the heroes were in therapy (I think? i saw it on pinterest)  
> In my mind, Jason was being mean to Tim because after the family found about Ra's' thing with Tim they all unanimously decided to try and keep the League as far away from Tim as possible, so Jason just wanted to get Tim out of there. Damian was being Damian.


	14. Bullies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Comment: Tim gets bullied and his brothers notice he’s acting strange and protect him  
> Requested by Anonymous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this takes place in a Highschool AU, cause you know, Tim's a high school drop out. Dick is a senior, Jason is a junior, Tim is a sophmore, Duke is a freshman and Damian is in eighth grade, and Cass, in my head, decided to attend boarding school instead of public school.  
> WARNING: there is one comment that can be perceived as slut shaming.

Tim knew he was smart, he was taking classes usually only seniors got to take and got all As. He knew a lot of his classmates thought he was pretentious because of his family, even though He’d never done anything to prove that, and even offered to help them study when needed.

So really, Tim wasn’t that surprised when the bullying had started. He’d had to deal with it even before being adopted with Bruce, and he hadn’t really expected any of that to change.

What he’d forgotten to take into account, was that now he had two older brothers with big reputations within the school. Dick was popular and charismatic, but he still had his enemies, and Jason was what one would call the resident bad boy, so lots of enemies there. 

Everyone knew better than to mess with Jason though, the fact that he used to live in lower Gotham made everyone at least slightly afraid of him, and Dick had the protection of most of the school; you didn’t mess with him unless you wanted everyone to know about it.

Tim had no such defences.

~~~

Tim closed his locker and immediately bit back a groan, as he found Ryan Cody leaning on the locker next to it,, predatory smile on his face.

“Hey nerd,”

_ Not the most creative insult, _ Tim thought dryly. “What?” He sighed, he wasn’t in the mood for any of this. 

Damian was going to be such a brat if Tim was late picking him up since Dick was staying late to work on a project and Jason had football practice. Duke probably didn’t want to wait either.

“Aw, I just wanted to pick your brain.” Ryan said, fake pouting.

Tim rolled his eyes. “I don’t have time for this.” He turned to leave, but Ryan slammed a hand down on his shoulder stopping him.

“You are  _ such _ a bitch. Just like your brothers.” Ryan growled.

Tim’s eye twitched. He was fine with Ryan messing with him, he was used to it, but Tim hated when he brought his brothers into it.

Ryan pulled on Tim’s hair, yanking Tim’s head back. “All thinking you’re so high and mighty just because Bruce Wayne took pity on you.”

Tim grit his teeth, not about to let Ryan get the satisfaction of hearing his pain. It was bad enough the boy seemed to get off on Tim’s pain as it was. 

“You can’t even keep the parents you had before!” Ryan hissed and Tim flinched despite himself.

The part of him that always wondered what he’d done wrong, why his parents had never been around and how long it would be until he drove off his new family appeared with a vigor it hadn’t had for quite awhile, but Tim pushed it away determined not to go down that path.

Like it usually did, the confrontation ended with violence, and as Ryan punched Tim in the gut repeatedly he hissed words of insult, not all of which were directed at Tim.

“Should be back on the street where he belongs!”

“Acts like he’s the greatest when really he just fucking sleeps with everyone!”

Definitely about Jason and Dick. Tim felt anger rise in him as he registered some of the things Ryan was saying about his brothers. Jason didn’t deserve anything, and Dick threw himself into every relationship he had, it wasn’t his fault a lot of them ended badly.

When Ryan seemed to have enough he let go of Tim. Tim slid down the lockers, hands moving automatically to grip at his stomach. Except Ryan had a parting gift. He grabbed Tim by the hair, catching him off guard and slammed the side of his face into the lockers.

Pain ricocheted in Tim’s head and he hissed in pain as Ryan let him go and walked away. Tim sat on the floor for a few seconds, head tilted up and eyes closed as he tried to get though the pain when he felt his phone vibrate in his bag.

Breathing a sigh through his nose, Tim reached in and checked it.

**Notifications**

**Duke: Tim, where are you? I’m waiting by the car.**

**Damian: Drake, hurry up before I call Pennyworth**

Tim groaned and picked himself up. He couldn’t keep Duke or Damian waiting, even if he kind of wanted to leave Damian at the middle school.

~~~

Tim was acting weird. They all had noticed it, how he moved more carefully and sometimes startled at sudden movements, Jason was even pretty sure he’d caught a glimpse of a forming welt on Tim’s head.

But Tim hadn’t said anything about it and Bruce didn’t know how to push a subject without starting a fight, so it had been left alone for the moment.

Until, of course, Jason caught it in the act.

He’d been running late to practice, and the quickest way to the locker room was down the hall Tim’s locker was in. He’d rounded the corner at a sprint, not caring about the teachers welling after him about not running in the halls, only to skid to a stop, double checking exactly what he was seeing.

Ryan Cody had Tim - Jason’s  _ brother _ \- pinned to the lockers. Tim didn’t even look angry, just resigned.

“Hey,” Jason called, fists clenching. “Get the fuck away from him!”

Ryan and Tim both looked over. Ryan sneered and Tim’s eyes widened slightly when they saw Jason stalking over.

“I said, get away from him,” Jason growled as he grabbed Ryan’s shoulder, forcefully shoving him away from Tim and pushing  _ him _ against the lockers.

_ How do you like that, asshole? _ Jason thought smugly. “What do you think you’re doing with my brother?”

“Putting him in his place.” Ryan answered, not looking at all apologetic or scared. 

Jason growled and punched him in the face. “Cody I swear to God, you stay the fuck away from my family or I will destroy you.”

Ryan held his nose, blood trickling through the gaps in his fingers and he glared at Jason. “Whatever, freak.” He took off at a fast pace, clearly having at least some survival instincts.

Jason sneered at his back, before turning to Tim who still stood behind him. “You good, Babybird?”

Tim raised an eyebrow at the rarely used nickname. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.”

Jason glared, “How long has that been happening?”

Tim shrugged. “With Ryan specifically? About a week. In general? I dunno, since I was a kid.”

Jason snarled. “Babybird, you gotta tell us when this shit happens so we can help.”

“I can handle myself fine, better me than you.” Tim grumbled.

“Uh-uh. Nope. Better none of us than any of us.” Jason corrected. “Jesus- okay, how about this? I won’t tell B about any of this, if you promise to tell me or Dickhead when shit happens. Deal?”

Tim thought for a moment before relenting. “Fine, shouldn’t you be at practice.”

Jason looked back down the hall and figured he was late enough for practice to be well underway. “I can skip. Let’s go get Duke and pick up the Demon Spawn before he gets too cranky.”

Tim snorted. “Yeah, alright.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't exactly my best work, I feel, probably because I was writing it in between and during my classes today and I wasn't really sure how to end it so sorry if it ends oddly.  
> I focused on Jason and Tim in this instead of all of them but I hope you enjoyed!


	15. Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paraphrased comment: Alone for Duke. He’s the only one that patrols during the day so he spends a lot of time alone since even Oracle needs to sleep  
> Requested by White_Tiger94

Duke watched as the others changed, tugging at his gloves.

Steph slapped him on the back, a wide grin on her face. “You ready to go Day Patrol? We left it pretty quiet for you.” 

Duke offered her a smile in return. “Thanks, sounds like an easy day.”

“Yup.” She replied and then bounced away to change out of her suit.

“Anything you want me to do?” Duke asked, walking over to Bruce, who was writing up a report of the night’s patrol on the batcomputer. He knew that sometimes Bruce would have things he wanted Duke to look into in the daylight.

“Not today,” Bruce told him, not looking away from the screen.

Duke nodded, “Alright. I’m going to head out then,”

Bruce looked away from the screen momentarily. “Duke, remember…” He picked up a small device from next to him and showed it to Duke. “If you need help.”

Duke nodded, he knew the device was the distress signal that Bruce kept on him at all times during the day in case Duke needed help or came across an issue to big for him to handle alone. “Yeah I know, see you tonight.”

He passed the others on his way to the vehicles and Dick patted him on the shoulder as he stifled a yawn, Tim waved, Jason wished him luck and Damian ignored him. 

~~~

Duke had discovered early on that patrol was lonely.

Sure, there were perks to patrolling in the day. He got to have a regular sleep schedule, he didn’t have to deal with the big players usually - they seemed to prefer the night - and he even got to interact with civilians. 

But it was lonely, and sometimes Duke wished he could be part of the antics of the night that he was told of. He wanted to have to deal with banter in his ear, and see the others running along their own roofs as he traveled.

He didn’t even have Oracle, as Barbara had to sleep as well. 

Sometimes he wondered how Bruce did this before Dick arrived, and during the night no less, when there wasn’t any children to spot you and make you come down to the street so they could ask rapid fire questions about what it was like to be a real hero or what the other bats were like.

“Just another lonely day,” Duke mumbled to himself, crouching on a roof. Steph hadn’t been lying when she said it was quiet.

He spoke too soon, his photokenetic vision allowing him to see the explosion a second before he heard the boom and it actually happened.

Duke cursed, leaping into action and pressing his distress button, just in case.

~~~

Dick sighed, going over the footage Duke’s armor camera had captured during his patrol that day as well as the audio recorded on the batcave. They hadn’t been able to catch the guy who had set off the explosion earlier and were hoping to catch something on Duke’s recordings that he hadn’t noticed in the movement.

Dick wasn’t even sure if Duke knew that Bruce would remotely turn on Duke’s comm link and set the batcomputer to record the audio, in case of anything happening.

He glanced up the stairs of the batcave, worry clawing at him. He remembered when the distress signal Bruce carried went off and they’d all rushed to the batcave, by the time they’d gotten to the building, Duke was already pretty deep into the burning remains, helping the fire department rescue the people trapped inside, despite his suit burning and the injuries he attained. 

The family had hovered around him for quite some time once the situation had gotten under control, though Duke hadn’t noticed. It wasn’t often he got hurt anywhere nearly as bad as they did on a regular basis so none of them had managed to curb the protective instinct in regards to him yet.

Dick turned his attention back to the screen as he heard Duke say something for the first time in a while.

_ “Just another lonely day.” _

Dick blinked. Lonely?

~~~

“I was thinking,” Dick started over the comms a few nights later. “Maybe we should start having someone patrol with Duke once a week.”

There was silence for a second.

_ “Why?”  _ Bruce asked.

“Remember how you made me go over the footage after the explosion incident the other day?” Dick asked rhetorically. “Apparently, Duke feels pretty lonely. Can’t say I blame him, we at least have each other when we spend our time up, Duke has no one.”

The comm was quiet as everyone thought about it.

_ “Once a week.” _ Bruce agreed,  _ “And you’ll all take turns.” _

~~~

Duke blinked as Jason walked up to him. “So, what’s the plan Signal?”

“What?” Duke asked dumbly.

Jason smirked in amusement. “I’m patrolling with you today.”

Duke’s eyebrows furrowed. “Is… is this about last week? The explosion? I can handle myself.”

Jason shook his head. “Nah kid, We just thought you might want some company.”

Duke blinked again. “Oh… Okay.”

~~~

The first time Duke left the rooftops for a kid while on patrol with Dick, Nightwing had followed.

The Gothamites passing by had blinked in shock than looked around nervously, not used to seeing any bat other than Signal during the day unless there was an emergency. The kid had looked at Nightwing in curiosity, but seemed to decide that if Signal thought he was cool than he agreed.

Afterwards, when they were back on the roof Dick had asked if that happened very often. Duke had shrugged and said “All the time.”

Jason stayed on the roof, afraid he’d scare the kids.

Damian would come down sometimes, but didn’t like being fawned over.

Steph and Dick seemed to be the only ones other than Duke who liked interacting with the civilians and kids.

~~~

Patrolling with Dick was fun and lighthearted, filled with Dick teaching Duke acrobatics when they weren’t stopping crime.

Patrolling with Jason was full of snark and crude jokes and language.

Patrolling with Tim was serious, with a few jokes scattered around.

Patrolling with Damian was full of half hearted taunts and insults.

Patrolling with Steph was like patrolling with Dick, except instead of acrobatics Duke got an unpredictable, harmless chaos.

The first time Cass visited she took the first patrol day she could. Patrol with her was quiet, but not the quiet that came with loneliness, it was a quiet filled with companionable silence.

He still spent most days by himself, but it wasn’t so lonely anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this one.  
> I really like the idea that Gotham views Signal differently than the other bats, they know that all the bats are their protectors, but unless they're a victim or a criminal they don't really interact with them. As opposed to Signal who patrols during the day so they see him more often and I like to believe Duke interacts with them too, like with the children and all, sort of like how other heroes do in their cities. So I included that in the story.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	16. Drugged

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summarized comments: Drugged for Damian. Damian somehow gets infected with a poison he made while with the League of Assassins and requires his family’s assistance in creating a cure.  
> Requested by clary_ashryver

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. School recently started and I got super stressed because of it and haven;t had the motivation or time to write, but I think I've gotten into the swing of things now and hopefully I'll have more chapters up really soon.

Damian scowled down at the wound on his thigh, and wondered why his grandfather had sent such a terrible assassin after him.

“Robin!” Damian looked up and noticed his brother running towards him. “Are you okay?” Dick asked.

“-tt- I am fine, just a few flesh wounds, nothing serious Nightwing.” Damian replied and then motioned to the unconscious assassin behind him. “I dealt with the issue just fine.”

Dick hesitated once more, giving Damian a once over and lingering on the stab wound on Damian’s thigh before he nodded. “Alright, well, we should get back to the cave for the night. B’s gonna want us out of the field for the night if the League is after one of us. I’ll tell the others”

Damian groaned, but did not argue, already knowing from experience that it was futile to argue with his eldest brother and father when it came to things concerning the League of Assassins and Damian.

The assassin groaned behind them and Damian turned, immediately at attention. He had thought they would at least stay down for an hour longer. The assassin looked up at Damian and he could see their jaw move as they broke into a smile, despite the mask covering their face.

“Karma and irony Robin. Karma and Irony.”

Damian’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion for a moment, before he replaced it with a scowl and punched the assassin in the face, knocking them out again.

_ Karma and irony? What the hell does that mean? _

~~~

Damian wakes up feeling vaguely ill, his throat feels sore and nausea causes his vision to spot for a moment. 

_ I _ cannot  _ be sick _ , Damian thinks as he sits up, and a moment later the nausea disappears like he had willed it away. Perhaps he had just woken up too suddenly or moved too quickly, he’d seen similar things happen to Tim (though that was when the other was running on about a week of no sleep.)

Damian dismissed the event and padded his way downstairs for breakfast, finding Dick and Bruce already there; Tim had decided to stay at the Perch the night before instead of making the trip back to the manor and Duke was most likely on patrol. 

Damian took his seat and listened to Dick chatter on about whatever he wished until Alfred brought out the morning’s breakfast for them to eat.

“Thank you, Pennyworth.” Damian told the man before taking a bite of the pancakes Alfred had set before him.

The food tasted weird.

It wasn’t something most people would notice, just a bit blander than normal, but Damian had been trained since birth to always be in tune with all his senses and could tell something was off. He looked sharply over at his older brother and father, expecting them to have noticed the difference as well, however they acted like everything was fine.

Damian took another bite slowly, and held it in his mouth for a moment longer. He couldn’t taste anything out of the usual on it, nothing that screamed ‘poison’ at him, it just… didn’t taste as much as usual.

Damian’s brows furrowed in confusion, before a thought struck him.

The assassin.

~~~

After breakfast, Damian made his way down to the cave, trying not to draw too much attention to himself. He quickly drew a sample of his blood, taking the precautions he’d seen Alfred take when examining and taking samples from Damian and the others.

Once he had a needle of his blood, Damian began to test it.

There was poison in his bloodstream. They hadn’t bothered to check last night because the League had never used poison when dealing with the bats before.

Damian did his best to figure out the components of the poison, and once he’d managed that he let a small, startled laugh.

He’d made it. It was a poison he had made as one of his final tests during League of Assassins training. There was no cure; that hadn’t been part of the assignment and besides, why would you need a cure for a poison to be used on your enemies?

_ Karma and irony. _

Karma for abandoning the League’s ways.

Irony because Damian is doing himself in, in a way.

Damian scowled, he wasn’t about to go down like this. The poison was designed to be slow acting and discreet so that the targets defences wouldn’t be raised and once the assassin had slipped it to them all they had to do was wait.

Damian’s version of the poison was meant to be ingested, this one was through the blood stream so it would be slightly different, but the effects and time frame should be the same.

He set a timer on the batcomputer.

He had 24 hours to make a cure.

~~~

Damian figured out he could use the batcomputer to analyse his attempts and see whether or not they’d work.

The first attempt was a failure.

~~~

The second attempt was a failure.

~~~

Whoever said “third time’s the charm” was a liar.

The third attempt was a failure. 

~~~

The fourth attempt was a failure.

Damian had twelve hours left.

He ran hand down his face, beginning to feel worry creep in. WHat if he couldn’t do this? He’d never been the best when it came to toxins and antitoxins, chemistry wasn’t his thing; combat was. It had taken him about a week to make the poison in the first place.

Damian was out of his depth, though he loathed to admit it.

He bit his lip and groaned. He wouldn’t allow his pride to get himself killed.

He needed help.

~~~

Tim blinked for what had to be the third time in a row. “What?”

Damian scowled, arms crossed over his chest as he stood outside of his youngest-older brother’s perch. “I need your help, Drake.” He ground out.

“You… need my help.” Tim repeated.

“Yes, Drake. I need your help.” Damian snapped. “Now are you going to stand there like an oaf or let me die?”

“Di- wait what?” Tim snapped out of his shocked state. “Damian what do you  _ mean _ die?”

Damian shouldered his way past Tim and into the room, “I have been poisoned, and there is no cure. I need your help to make one. I only have -” he checked his watch. “Eleven hours before I die.”

“Elev- okay. Do you have the poison?” Tim questioned, going into hero mode.

“The components and everything I know about it are in the batcomputer’s database.” Damian told him. Tim nodded and moved over to his computer, which he had connected to the batcomputer.

Tim went through the files to find Damian’s data and his brows furrowed. “Wait… this says that there were already trial antidotes.” He looked up at Damian, a hard look in his eyes. “How long have you been poisoned, Damian?”

Damian shifted awkwardly. “Last night, one of Grandfather’s assassin’s weapon was covered in it.”

Tim scowled, and rubbed two fingers over his nose. “Damian, look… we don’t get along and all, but you're my brother and Dick isn’t here so I guess I have to be the one to tell you this. You come to one of us as soon as you learn that something life threatening is going on and you have the ability to tell us. I don’t care how well you think you can handle the situation by yourself, we still need to know.”

Damian sneered, but had to admit Tim had a point. If Dick had tried to get himself un-poisoned without telling anyone Damian would be furious with him. He just… hadn’t wanted his family to know of one more terrible thing he’d done. He didn’t even know how many people his poison had killed.

“Alright, I’ll start running some tests and see what I can do.” Tim asked. “But I haven’t seen anything like this before, whoever made it is really smart - evil, but smart.”

Damian preened slightly under his most intelligent brother’s praise, though he didn’t let it show because 1. He would never admit to looking up to Tim in any way, he was Damian’s rival after all , and 2. It would look highly suspicious if Damian looked happy about the creator of his potential emise being complemented.

“Alright, what would you like me to do to help?” Damian asked, he’d known coming here that Tim would take over for the most part, he’d already failed four times.

Tim glanced up. “Coffee?”

Damian scoffed, “How many cups have you had today Drake?”

“Ten, but if you want this antidote you better keep them coming.”

Damian sighed, he didn’t want to be reduced to a coffee deliverer and Tim’s addiction was concerning but Damian couldn’t exactly have him crashing right now. “...How do you take your coffee?”

~~~

Tim glanced over at Damian who, after making coffee had settled onto the couch and was reading a book.

“The antidote should be done in a few minutes.” He said and Damian looked up, closing the book.

“It is about time, Drake.” Damian replied and Tim raised an eyebrow, mentally challenging Damian to say anything else when he’d already failed at making an antidote four times.

Speaking of, “So why didn’t you come to me or Bruce or Dick sooner? I mean, I didn’t think even your pride would make you risk your death -” for a second time “like that.”

Damian shifted, seemingly contemplating for a moment and Tim came to the conclusion his younger brother wasn’t going to give him an answer, so he turned back to the screen, watching the loading bar inch slowly to a close. 

“I made it.”

Tim looked over in thinly veiled surprise. “What?”

Damian shifted uncomfortably, as if regretting saying anything, before he squared his shoulders and stated again, “I made it, the poison. I believe you complimented me earlier Drake, I count that as a win.”

Tim could see through the last line for what it was: an attempt at glossing over the topic, a grsp for something normal. It was meant to start some sort of fight, though Tim didn’t see the point.

“You made the poison?” Tim repeated, because that was the important part of this.

Damian nodded, frowning slightly as his attempt to not talk failed. “Yes. It was a test during training from the League.”

Tim nodded slowly, eyes moving to look at the wall, as he thought with all the puzzle pieces now. Damian… thought they’d be mad at him. “I’m not mad.” the words slipped out before he could stop them. Damian probably didn’t care what he thought anyway, he cared what Bruce and Dick thought. “B and Dick won’t be either.”

Damian narrowed his eyes as he stared at Tim, though his shoulders relaxed just a bit.

Before either could say anything else, Tim’s computer let out a ding, signalling that a successful antidote had been made.

Tim turned his attention back to his computer and uploaded the formula to the batcomputer. “Alright, you’re good to go. You just need to make the antidote when you get back to the cave.”

Damian nodded sharply. “Very well.” He made his way to the door, but paused just as he was about to close it. Face looking slightly constipated for a moment, Damian spat out the words, “Thank you” before slamming the door closed.

Tim let out a startled laugh.

Alright then.

~~~

Damian winced a little as he injected the antidote into his bloodstream. A weight lifted from his chest that he hadn’t entirely realized was there.

He wasn’t going to die again, and if he had to say thank you to Tim for continued existence, well… it was a necessary evil.

Now, how was he going to get this antidote into the database and common knowledge without Dick or his father finding out about either Damian’s involvement in the creation of the poison or the incident.

Tim didn’t hold anything against him, which was a small relief, and deep down Damian knew no one else in his family would. but he didn’t want to add to the already long list of his sins.

“Hey little D, whatcha got?” 

“An antidote to a poison I made.” Damn it. It really was true what people said about you spilling the things you didn’t want people to know.

He turned and saw Dick standing there. “Oh, well that’s some forward thinking, it would be bad if we didn’t have an antidote and we came across your poison. Let’s put it in the database” 

Damian sometimes marveled at his brother’s nonchalance and idiocy. “You are not concerned about the fact I just said I have made a poison?”

Dick shrugged. “It’s not that surprising. We’ve all made one at least once.”

Damian spluttered. “What?”

Dick shrugged. “I mean, normally it’s for hostile aliens, but the point still stands. B’s made some for humans. As long as you make an antidote, there’s no harm no foul Little D.” Dick tilted his head. “You do know Bruce went through training with the League too, right?”

Damian blinked, because yes, he did remember something like that being mentioned, but he hadn’t thought that meant his father went through the same tests. Well then.

“Of course I knew that.” Damian responded, trying to save some of his dignity. “I’m going to go put this into the database then.” He turned on his heel and walked off, leaving his eldest brother silently laughing a little.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I mentioned before, I've kind of not been having the best time writing wise lately, so this isn't my best work and feels a bit weird towards the end, but I hope you liked it.


	17. PTSD

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summarized comments: Continuation of the Future/Past chapter, where the family brings up the abuse with correct age Tim, who still has a few side affects from the spell. Tim has a panic attack or smth. (PTSD tile)  
> Requested by REVERSEDROBINS62

Tim had a lot of trauma.

Not a big surprise to anyone, he knows.

His mother died, he’s fought in a war, his father died, both of his best friends have died, his ex-girlfriend faked her death and didn’t tell him she was alive, his adoptive father and mentor died and then his older brother ripped away the one thing keeping him aloft in all of the lose and trauma and called him crazy leaving Tim to travel the world in search of his adoptive father. He’s even the object of affection/obsession for an immortal man running the League of Assassins.

The point is, Tim had a lot of trauma, so much so that there was no therapist that could even begin to unpack all of it. He hadn’t even thought about his lonely childhood in a long time, it just never seemed to reach the qualifications of “what trauma is Tim going to be haunted by today?”

Now, he couldn’t stop remembering lonely rooms and straight posture and quiet mouths and high expectations that he couldn’t let down. Well, the last one hadn’t ever changed, he always had that on his mind, but not in the way it was now.

Tim fully blamed the spell he’d just recovered from for this. He didn’t remember what had happened in the past week, but he’d been debriefed that he’d spent it as his nine year old self both physically and mentally, which meant he only had a lonely childhood to deal with. Tim kind of envied little Tim. 

The spell must have somehow brought his childhood trauma to the forefront of Tim’s mind, and pushed the rest to the back for now. 

Tim wouldn’t have minded, he would have preferred to deal with only feelings of loneliness and not everything else for a change, but it seemed his childhood trauma had its own consequences.

~~~

Dinner was tense for some reason. It put Tim on edge. 

Damian kept stabbing at his food, a scowl plastered on his face though that was nothing new. Dick was quiet and more subdued than normal, though he still moved around on occasion, his ever constant energy not letting him stay still for long. Jason kept alternating between staring intently down at his food and glancing between Tim and Bruce. Bruce just kept his gaze fixed on Tim.

_ What’s going on? Did I do something wrong? Is Bruce mad at me? Am I in trouble? _ Tim’s mind raced as he tried to figure out what the problem was.

“Alright, fuck this.” Jason finally broke the silence that had hung over the table.

“Jason,” Dick spoke softly, his tone admonishing. “We should probably just leave it alone.”

“Don’t act like this isn’t a big deal, Dickhead.” Jason growled. “It’s a pretty fucking major deal!”

Tim pulled back into his seat a bit as Jason began to yell, wanting to get farther away from the noise.

“I know, but we can’t just… bring it up.” Dick argued.

“-tt- Why not? Drake is mature, we should be able to speak with him about this.”

_ “You’re a big boy Tim, you can be left on your own.” _

The words echo in Tim’s mind for some reason and he wants them to disappear. He hadn’t thought of his parents in years; even if that made him a little guilty, he didn’t see any reason for it to start now.

“Boys,” Bruce’s stern tone cuts through the arguing and everyone goes silent. Tim tensed, an image of his mother’s stormy face flashing in his mind. Unlike his father, who yelled and hurt when angry, his mother somehow got colder and cut through him with words.

Bruce breathed a long sigh through his nose, before his gaze slid over to Tim. Tim held his breath, waiting for Bruce to yell or shout. He was pretty sure that was how Bruce would react, unlike his mother. Bruce was not the best at expressing emotions positively, with affection and love he was distant and reluctant, and with anger and fear he pushed away and could be violent.

“Tim,” Bruce’s voice was level. For now.

Tim fought against biting his lip or fidgeting. His parents always hated his nervous habits, it just made things worse. “Yes Bruce?” He asked, voice calculatingly neutral. 

Don’t show them you’re upset. Don’t show them you’re scared. Don’t show emotion.

Fake it to make it, seemed to be the general lesson of his mother. And Tim could do that.

“We need to have a talk.”

“About?” Tim raised an eyebrow, even as his breathing picked up just slightly. He remembered when his father would come into his room, and say that, face an oscar worthy performance of open and inviting. He only did that when Tim was in trouble.

He only did that when Tim was about to get beat senseless.

_ Bruce wouldn’t do that _ , Tim tries to remind himself.  _ Bruce isn’t like mom or dad. _

He knows that, logically. But his stupid childhood instincts are screaming at him.

“Cut the bull, Tim.” Jason snapped. “We’re talking about your parents.”

Jason talking was better than Bruce. “What about my parents?” Tim had an idea.

“Timmy,” Dick this time. “Did,” he hesitated, “Did your parents ever… hurt you?”

Tim’s grip tightened on his fork. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

His mother always told him not to say anything.  _ If anyone asks where you got those bruises, tell them you tripped, tell them your clumsy, tell them anything but the truth. _

“When you were a child this week,” Bruce spoke, “We noticed some… troubling behavior.”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “I did spend most of my childhood alone, B. You know what I was like.” 

Dick shook his head. “No, we did notice what we expected, but… you also…” He trailed off, obviously not sure how to continue.

“You thought Father was going to hit me and inserted yourself to be punished in my stead.” Damian spoke bluntly.

Tim’s breath caught in his throat. Well that complicated things.

“So, did your parents ever hurt you?” Jason repeated the question.

“I…”  _ Think Tim, think. Anything but the truth, tell them ANYTHING but the truth. _ Tim was tired of secrets. He was tired of lying. “...yeah.”

The others immediately tensed further.

“Fucking hell,” Jason muttered.

“Why didn’t you ever tell us?” Dick asked incredulously.

Tim shrugged sheepishly. “It wasn’t important.”

“Wasn’t-? Shit, Babybird, how is this not important?” Jason questioned incredulously. Tim notes he used a nickname other than Replacement or Pretender. It felt nice, even given the circumstances of gaining the nickname.

Tim shrugged again. “It doesn’t affect me. I haven’t even thought about it in years.” He kind of has other traumatic memories bigger than getting hit by his parents when he was a kid.

They’re all silent for a minute.

Tim looks at Bruce and finds him staring down at the table, face unusually pale and fists clenched tightly. 

“Bruce?” he asks hesitantly.

Bruce looks up at him, his gaze haunted in a way Tim hadn’t seen since he was Robin and Bruce was thinking about everything he regretted doing and not doing in regards to Jason. Why did he have that look. “I sent you back there.”

Tim blinked. Oh, this was a conversation he and Bruce had kind of had a few times - and by that, Tim means they’d vaguely talked about it without actually talking about Tim returning to an empty house night after night when he first became Robin. “I mean, I didn’t live here so you kind of had to.”

Bruce shook his head. “No not- well yes - but no. I mean… when Jack woke up. I sent you back there.”

_ Oh. _

“B… it’s fine. Really,” Tim offers a smile. “After the comma it wasn’t that bad. I mean, there was that time he threw the TV at me, but it was fine.”

“Threw the -?” Dick cut himself off in shock.

Jason swore again.

Even Damian looked slightly unsettled.

“Tim,” Bruce said, voice strangled. “You know what they did to you wasn’t okay, right?”

“I - yeah?” Tim felt like this conversation wasn’t going anywhere. “Yeah, I know. And I’m not there anymore. It’s fine, I’m fine.”

And he is. Maybe he flinches away from people sometimes or startles at gentle touches, but that has to do with other things, not his parents.

“You know I’d never hurt you, right?” Bruce asks.

Tim wants to say yes. But he remembers the security tapes he’s found of when Dick was Robin. He pauses.

“Tim,” Dick says, almost like he knows what’s stopping Tim. “Bruce would never hurt you. And even if he tried, you know none of us would let him, right?”

Jason nods in agreement. “If Bruce ever tries anything to any of us, he’ll have a bullet through his head faster than he can say Batman.”

“I know,” Tim answers, voice strong. “I know Bruce won’t hurt me, and I know, despite past attempts, you guys won’t let anything happen either.” 

Bruce nods. “Good.”

They’re silent, no one really knows what to say. Tim knows what his parents did was wrong, but it doesn’t bother him usually. And they can’t really say much without being even more hypocritical than they already are everyday.

“Let us eat.” Damian breaks the silence.

“Yeah,” Tim said softly.

He appreciated the effort, but it just felt awkward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I did the continuation part fine, but not sure about the rest of the request. I’m not sure what that ending is lol  
> The war thing is a reference to the Young Justice arch Our Worlds At War. I wasn’t entirely sure which continuity it was a part of but I’m pretty sure it fits.  
> Hope you enjoyed


	18. Arguments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Comment summary: Arguments with Dick! He gets into a fight with Bruce and the others overhear and comfort him.  
> Requested by Redhoodnightwing13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Bruce is NOT a good person in this, if that's not your thing don't read.

“We need to talk.” Dick said in lieu of a greeting as he stepped into Bruce’s study.

Bruce glanced up from his paperwork for only a second, before turning his attention back to it. “I don’t have time right now, Dick.” He said in the same mildly irritated tone he’d had all week.

“Make time,” Dick responded. “I’ve been trying to talk to you for a few days now.”

Bruce sighed through his nose and put his pen down. “What?”

“You’ve been on edge all week.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow, gaze guarded. “You act like this is new.”

Dick shrugged, “Not exactly, but I haven’t seen you acting like this in years. And it’s affecting everyone B. You can’t go into your head like this anymore, you have responsibilities.”

“I am taking care of my responsibilities, Dick. I don’t need you telling me how to do my job.” Bruce returned, voice taking on a bit more irritation. 

Dick shook his head in exasperation. Sometimes he wondered how Bruce had managed to raise him. “I’m not talking about Batman or Wayne Industries, Bruce.” he spoke, tone a bit sharper than before. “I’m  _ talking _ about this family.”

“‘This family’ is fine.” Bruce responded, looking back down at his paperwork.

Dick growled. He had wanted to have this conversation civilly, to actually talk with Bruce like a regular human being. It seemed that wasn’t going to happen today. Dick slammed his hands down on the desk, and moved the paperwork away from Bruce. 

Bruce looked up, glaring. “ _ Dick _ . I have work.”

“Bruce this family is  _ not _ fine. Jason hasn’t shown up since you yelled at him on wednesday, Tim hasn’t slept for 3 days because of all the cases you’ve piled on him and damian refuses to leave his room for God only knows why, but I bet it’s because of you.” Dick snapped. “This self-destructive behavior was fine when it was just you, me and Alfred, but not anymore, Bruce! You need to stop taking out your issues on them!”

He knew he was pushing it, he knew that Bruce was having a rough time because of Selina taking off somewhere when they’d just started working out their issues, but this was his family. And Dick was not going to let Bruce ruin the precarious balance the family had fallen into even more than he already had.

“Whatever Tim does is his business, Jason will come back eventually, and Damian will get over it.” Bruce responded, voice low. “If you don’t like how I do things, Dick, you can leave.”

Dick’s mind flashes to another argument, another time when Bruce had kicked him out. Dick had let it happen last time, but this time he had plenty of reasons to not just let Bruce push him away. “No, Bruce. I am not leaving, unless I get to take Tim and Damian with me. You can’t treat them like you treated me, I won’t let you.”

Bruce stood, and Dick felt a small inkling of fear creep into him, remembering all the times Bruce had hit him out of anger. 

“Dick, they are my sons and last I checked so are you. What I say goes, if you don’t like it you can leave, but you cannot take your brothers.” Bruce growled, stalking towards Dick.

He wanted to move, but deficiency made Dick stand his ground, refusing to show any fear he felt. “I think I’m old enough to make my own decisions, Tim and Damian too. Bruce, you can’t keep doing this unless you want a repeat of what happened with me when I was Robin.”

He knows bringing up the time between Dick leaving and jason showing up is a low blow, knows Bruce doesn’t like to think about how Dick used to hate him with a passion.

Bruce growls, and opens his mouth in a sneer, about to say something that would probably damage the situation even more.

The door to the study opens, revealing Tim standing there. “Dick,” he says, tone light despite the strange look in his eyes as he glances at Bruce. “Alfred needs you.”

The room seems frozen, Dick and Bruce are standing mere inches apart, Bruce’s hand raised to point at Dick though they both stare at Tim.

Dick clears his throat, “Right, yeah I’m coming.” He glances at Bruce. “Good talk, just… think about what I said.” He says softly, knowing that it probably won’t do much. Bruce never changes his bad behavior, just stops for awhile.

He leaves the study, putting a hand on Tim’s shoulder as he passes to urge him to follow. He doesn’t want Tim alone with Bruce when he’s angry like his is now.

Once they’re our of the study, the door firmly closed behind them and Dick can’t hear Bruce’s furious muttering he relaxes infinitesimally. “So, what does Alfie need?” He asks Tim, trying to hide how shaken he feels.

Tim glances at him. “I lied, Alfred doesn’t need you.”

Dick’s brows furrowed. “Why?”

Tim licked his lips nervously, an emotion Dick wasn’t used to Tim showing. “I… heard your conversation, got a bit worried.” His eyes rake over Dick, as if searching for something and Dick realizes Tim thought Bruce was going to hit him.

He wishes he could tell Tim for certain Bruce wasn’t. “I’m fine Tim,” He tells his younger brother gently. “How about we grab Damian and go out to eat. I think Alfred will understand.”

Tim nods, “Sure, I think we could all benefit from getting out of the Manor.”

Dick smiles slightly. “I’ll go get Dami.”

~~~

They decide on a crummy diner in one of the neighborhoods of Gotham that isn’t too bad but isn’t part of the nicer, high Gotham part. Jason’s there when they arrive.

“Jaybird!” Dick smiles. “What are you doing here?”

Jason looks up from where he’d been smoking. “Got a text from Babybird. Figured as long as the old man wasn’t here I could make some time.”

Dick’s smile drops a little at the reminder of why they’re here in the first place, but he quickly replaces it, just as widely so that Damian and Jason won’t notice anything is wrong. It’s bad enough already that Tim knows.

“Yeah, I figured you guys needed a break and that some brotherly bonding was in order. I’m glad you’re here Little Wing.” Dick wraps an arm around Jason’s shoulder for a second before letting go.

They settle into a booth and order their food, making idle chit chat and jokes before Tim brings it up.

“Dick,” He starts hesitantly, “we need to talk about what happened with B.”

Jason tenses at the mention of Bruce, eyes narrowing slightly as he glances at Tim and then Dick. “What happened?” He asks, putting down his sandwich.

Dick waved a hand dismissively. “Ah, it’s nothing Jay. You guys don’t need to worry about it.”

“Dick,” Tim’s eyebrows furrowed. “It sounded like he was going to hit you.”

Jason looks over at him sharply. “What?” He wasn’t unfamiliar with bruce’s anger reaching a boiling point either, though Dick didn’t think he’d ever experienced it as badly as Dick had. 

Damian also looked over, eyebrows furrowed. “Grayson?” His voice wasn’t as demanding as Dick expected, softer than usual. Whatever bruce did to him must have done a number.

Dick sighed, “It’s nothing I’ve never dealt with. Everything is fine.”

“Dick, you know it’s not okay for him to treat you like that just like it’s not okay for him to treat us like that, right?” Tim asked.

Dick smiled tightly. “I know, but it’s fine.” 

“No it’s not,” Jason spoke up, anger clawing itself from his throat in the form of a growl. His eyes looked a bit greener than usual. “Goldie, he can’t treat you like that, and you shouldn’t let him.”

Dick shrugged helplessly. “Guys, really.”

“I don’t get why you don’t just move out.” Jason continued. “I mean, Babybird refuses to leave because of whatever promise he made to himself and Bruce when he became Robin, but you can still get out of there.”

He glances at Damian quickly, but looks away before he thinks Damian will notice. He can’t just leave Tim and Damian to deal with Bruce by themselves. 

Damian notices. “Grayson I do not need you to look out for me. I can handle Father.” The slight twitch in his hands and the refusal to leave his room earlier tells Dick otherwise.

“I’m not leaving.” Dick says firmly. “Bruce will calm down eventually and things will be fine.” For a while.

The unspoken words hang in the air between the brothers for a few minutes.

“When Damian is old enough,” Tim starts. “We’re all leaving. Even me.” 

Dick looks over at him. “What?” Jason and Damian seem surprised too.

Tim sighs, looking down. “It’s not healthy, how Bruce treats us. And as hard as it is to admit, Alfred is at fault here to, he doesn’t exactly stop Bruce. Even Robins have their limits.” Jason and Dick had both proved that. “So, we’ll leave when Damian is old enough.”

“Timmy, if you’re just doing this because of what happened today, you don’t have to.” Dick assures him, knowing that Bruce is more of a father to Tim than Jack Drake ever was.

Tim shook his head. “No, maybe it was the breaking point but, I’ve seen the signs from the beginning Dick. It was just, better than home at first, and then I had you and eventually Jason and Damian so I didn’t want to leave. But it’s not safe or healthy for us to stay with Bruce longer than we need to.”

“I am on board with this plan,” Damian speaks up. “Though I can’t say I’ll enjoy living with Drake and Todd for even longer, I will tolerate it. Until then, we can endure Father.”

Jason shrugged, “Yeah sure, you guys can move into my apartment or I can look. Can’t raise B’s flags before we’re ready.”

Tears sprang to Dick’s eyes and he smiled, hand coming up to hold his face. Relief was flooding through him and he hadn’t realized how heavy this all had been weighing on him.

Sure, they still had five years until they could leave, but Dick thought they could manage until then. They’d get out of there eventually, and Dick was so glad for that.

“Okay,” He speaks up, voice choked. “Okay, yeah. Let’s do it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When i started this, I did not intend to make Bruce the bad guy that much but it kind of just happened.  
> It also turned more Robins-centric than Dick-centric towards the end but I thought it was good so.  
> For those who are going to say they could just bring up a lawsuit for child abuse/domestic abuse against Bruce I don't think they'd be able to get enough evidence to win the case and it would also risk their identities so I figured they wouldn't try.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	19. Court of Owls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Comment summary: Court of Owls trying to get Dick.  
> Requested by AmaraRae

Dick didn’t know what it was about him that villains seemed to like. He took a little comfort, at least, that Tim seemed to suffer from the same issue, though it didn’t mean much as he stumbled through a labyrinth.

He remembers Bruce saying something about a labyrinth belonging to the Court of Owls when they first discovered them, but not any details. How had Bruce gotten out again? Dick can’t remember and he’s going to make himself read the report on the incident until he has it memorized when he gets out.

_ If he gets out. _ His mind supplied against his will.

Dick didn’t know how long he’d been down there, he’d done his best to keep track of it when he’d first arrived but lack of rest and food had quickly made it impossible for him.

Dick has to curse William Cobb for getting him into this mess, even if the man is permanently dead now. 

He leans against a wall, putting his heads in his hands as it aches. He needs to keep moving, he knows that. He’s had a Talon on his tail for what could have been a few days or a few hours now. Dick refuses to die here.

“Keep going,” He urges himself, taking a few more staggering steps forward. “I have to keep going.”

He reminds himself why he’s doing this.

Tim.

Damian.

Jason.

Barbara.

Steph.

Cass.

Duke.

Alfred.

Bruce.

He has to get back to them, his family. He can’t give up. He can’t let himself be killed just to be turned into a weapon.

He knows, deep down, that if he becomes a Talon the Court will make him kill his family just to prove a point. Just because he’s been a pain in their butt, and to show the others they can’t win and that the Court will twist and break every aspect of them if need be.

Dick can’t let that happen. He can’t kill his family and be the example the Court wants to make him.

Dick’s already found the fountain and the coffins of sleeping Talons. He’s thought of destroying them all but he has no way of doing so. He thinks Bruce mentioned something about explosions, but he can’t remember…

Dick doesn’t even know how he got down to the Labyrinth.

~~~

“Your welcome,” Dick tells Jason in a sing song voice. After helping him deal with some thugs.

Jason scoffs. “I didn’t need your help, I had everything handled.”

Dick laughs. “Sure, Little Wing.” 

“Don’t you have a patrol to be getting back to?” Jason asked.

Dick raised his hands. “Okay, okay, I know when I’m not wanted.” He jokes. “See you later Hood.”

Jason grunts and Dick grapples to a rooftop, taking off into the night. He hadn’t realized he and Jason were on patrol routes that intersected, but it was fun while it lasted. Still, there was crime in the other parts of the city for him to deal with.

A noise behind Dick makes him pause. For a second he thinks Jason might have followed him, but the noise was too soft to be the sound of Jason’s boots and Bruce wouldn’t have put more than two of them on patrol routes that intersect.

Dick turns quickly, drawing his escrima sticks. “Who’s there?” He calls out, because he’s in a good enough mood to pull some cliches.

“Observant,” A voice detaches itself from the shadows and Dick tenses, recognizing the black and gold uniform of a Talon. They hadn’t heard anything on the Court of Owls for awhile now, and it didn’t bode well that a Talon had shown up.

Dick is tensed, ready to fight and focus zeroed in on the Talon.

That’s his mistake.

A hand wraps around his mouth to keep him quiet and another brings a syringe to his neck.

_ They sent two Talons,  _ Dick realizes as he blacks out.

He woke up in the labyrinth.

~~~

He’s back at the coffin room.

“Fuck,” Dick cursed. He’s come to understand Jason’s tendency for it.

He has no idea how he got here, he thought he’d memorized the path that took him to this room, thought he’d marked the way to it and the way to the fountain, but apparently he’d found another way.

“You won’t find a way out, you know.” 

Dick turns, finding himself faced with a Talon, he doesn’t know if the other one is still awake or if it had been put back to sleep.

“I can try,” Dick responds, carefully inching himself backwards. He doesn’t think he has enough energy to fight it, at least not without a way to escape yet. It was better to conserve energy until he had a plan.

The Talon slipped a knife into its hand, head tilting. “The Court will kill you, you realize?”

Dick shrugged, a cocky smile finding its way to his face. “You can try. Us bats and birds don’t go down easy though. Besides, if you do, I think you’ll have bigger things to worry about than Batman.”

Not entirely true, not entirely false.

Jason will be out for blood no doubt, and the other bats will want to avenge him as well, but the Court will have a new enemy too.

Dick doesn’t think Slade will take kindly to someone else finally getting his apprentice to kill.

The Talon hums. “The Court will defeat any foe who appose it.”

Dick debates wether or not to respond or to run, run would probably be better.

Dick grabs an escrima stick from his side and throws it at the Talon. He’ll be one less when he tries to escape, but he’ll make do. He doesn’t even know why the Court let him keep them when they took his utility belt and other weapons before he woke up.

He turns and runs for the other exit of the coffin room, but the Talon is quick to recover and throws a knife that embeds itself in Dick’s leg.

Dick grunts and stumbles a bit but continues on, ignoring the pain. He just has to get out of here.

~~~

Dick is pinned.

The Talon is hovering above him, a knifeposed over Dick and he thinks this is the end.

He failed.

He’s never going to see Tim’s sleep deprived shenanigans without coffee, or Damian’s art or Jason’s false annoyance when Dick drops in to hang out or Barbara’s fond exasperation or Steph’s smiles or Cass’s silent affections or Duke’s hesitant attempts to fit in or Bruce’s rare moments of encouragement.

He’s never going to see his family again, not unless he’s killing them.

He’s just going to be another ghost in the Manor’s halls, another regret in Bruce’s closet.

Dick tries to escape, because he can’t stop fighting, he can’t let that happen, but it’s no use. He’s trapped beneath the Talon and not even his flexibility or strength can get him out. This is the end.

Dick doesn’t want to resign himself to his fate, but he doesn’t think there’s much of a choice.

“Dick!”

Dick startles slightly at the voice, and the Talon looks away as well. Dick cranes his neck back to look at the area behind himself and sees Bruce jump down from a labyrinth wall.

Relief floods through him in an instant. Bruce is here, which means the others are to. Dick isn’t going to die here.

“Batman.” The Talon states simply, the hand holding the knife still hasn’t moved from it’s position. “You cannot stop the Court. We will have the Gray Son.”

Bruce’s eyes narrow behind his cowl. “Get away from my son.”

The Talon moves, the knife swinging downwards towards Dick but he is stopped by a bullet firing onto the knife’s hilt and moving it’s trajectory to the ground, where it buries itself next to Dick’s neck.

Jason’s here too.

The next second, Bruce has tackled the Talon off of Dick and is grappling with it on the ground. 

Heavy boots land on the floor, signalling that Jason has joined them on the ground.

“Hey, Dickie. The others are on their way.”Jason says, dropping down next to Dick. “Hang in there.” He takes off a glove and presses a finger to Dick’s neck, checking the state of his pulse.

Dick manages a nod through the pain sweeping over his body. “I’ll try.”

He doesn’t know how long they stay there, Bruce fighting the Talon and Jason firing at it if they get too close.

Eventually, Dick sees the figures of Damian, Tim, Steph and Cass join Jason. They must have called Cass back to help find him. Duke is probably stuck patrolling the city while they stage this rescue mission.

But, they’re here. They found him.

It sinks in and Dick feels a sob of relief rising in his throat. He’d honestly thought he was going to die down here, at the end.

But he won’t.

Exhaustion sweeps over Dick like a tide rushing in, now that he no longer has to stay on edge.

He sleeps, and he knows when he wakes up he’ll be home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm terrible at writing fight scenes, so I just tried to avoid them, sorry.  
> I used 'it' pronouns for the Talon because Talons aren't technically people, in my opinion, since they're reanimated corpses and don't think for themselves.  
> Hope you enjoyed.


	20. Mantles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Comment: "Mantles" and Damian, maybe? Damian thinking about how each robin has changed the mantle over time, and how he has inherited all of that history not just from his father, but from his brothers (and Steph).  
> Requested by White_Tiger94

Damian has a lot to live up to, he knows that. The mantle of Robin has been held and worn by a lot of people, many of which surround Damian on a daily basis and who he looks up to to some extent.

Dick’s mark on the mantle was no only the beginning, but the trait that every previous bearer has carried on. Hope and light, the ability to continue and move forward. Dick is his older brother, in some ways more of a father figure to him than his real father.

If Damian doesn’t fill the Robin mantle correctly, will Dick stop smiling at him like he does? 

Jason gave the mantle burning snark and a reputation in combat. Yes, Dick had been good in a fight, but Jason had left the fancy acrobatics and stunts to Nightwing and picked up the brawling and tricks of the streets. He’d given robin fire and drive.

Damian wondered what would happen if he couldn’t pull it off. If he couldn’t fight while on the last straining threads of energy. Would Jason try to kill him for maring the name of Robin like Tim?

And Tim. Tim who raised Robin to the same level as Batman in the battle of intellect and deduction. Who gave Robin a reputation of intelligence. Tim was Damian’s rival, the one he strived to beat most.

Because if Damian failed, if Damian couldn’t measure up in intellect, in fights in not giving up, wouldn’t the mantle go back to Tim?

Robin was many things.

Robin was a leader. Damian could barely work together with Collin or Jon.

Robin was what kept Batman afloat. He and his father were often on tense ground due to how Damian was raised.

Damian had a lot to live up to. Sometimes he wondered if he ever could.

But then Dick would offer him a tired smile when a case was dragging on and they were all exhausted by Damian insisted that ~~he~~ they would figure it out soon.

Then Jason would say he did pretty good in a fight without his sword and offer a few tips if he was in a good mood.

Then Tim would try to call a truce and offer to help Damian get the hang of some code or teach him some better deductive techniques.

And Damian was getting better with people.

He and His father weren’t fighting nearly as often as when Damian first moved in or when Bruce came back from time and Damian had lost Dick as his partner.

Damian had a lot to live up to. Sometimes he didn’t think he’d be able to do it, other times he did.

Either way, he’d make his mark on the mantle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more of a character study and is pretty short, I wasn't really feeling the prompt and I've also had a rough few days. So my apologies if this isn't what you were hoping for.  
> I don't know anything about Steph's run as Robin, which is why I didn't include her. Sorry.  
> I also find this chapter ironic considering what DC's been doing to Damian. (I'm not upset about it, definitely not nearly as mad as I was when they made Tim's hero name Drake. What are you guys talking about?)  
> Hope you enjoyed


	21. Misunderstandings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> combining two requests.  
> Summarized comment: Damian having some trauma from the League of Assassins and that Batfam realizing that.   
> Requested by Dalkiria.  
> Summarized comment: For misunderstandings, Damian is trying to be nice to Tim but overhears Tim talking about him. Tim then has to bring Damian home after he runs away.   
> Requested by PepperSoniRoni

Damian was no stranger to being talked about behind his back. He’d experienced it many times in his life.

The assassins under his grandfather may have held high respect for Ra’s, but they only ever tolerated Damian. He had heard them speak of him many times when they thought he could not hear, saying he was spoiled and shouldn’t be the heir to the demon.

Mostly, Damian responded by showing himself and revelling in their startled reactions. Other times, on bad days, he would grit his teeth and tell himself to work harder, to prove them wrong.

He didn’t know why this time hurt so much more.

~~~

Damian knew he hadn’t been… the greatest to Tim. He also knew that that was putting it lightly. He’d attempted to kill the older teen, he’d ridiculed and him and played a large part in tearing up the remaining shreds Tim had of a life that had already fallen to pieces. 

It had taken Damian far too long to realize he’d taken his viewed rivalry with Tim much too far. And once he had realized, he struggled to figure out how to go about fixing the damage he’d done.

When Damian had arrived, he’d known what the league told him. Family doesn’t matter, the role in the hierarchy does, and Robin was Batman’s right hand. Tim was an obstacle in Damian’s way of earning his father’s love and respect, nothing more.

But now Damian knows better, he’s been taught what real love is, even if sometimes he still finds it hard to believe in comparison to what he grew up with in the league. He knows that family means being cared about no matter what, and he has brothers who will be there for him.

Damian wanted to know what Tim would be like as a brother, rather than the role Damian had forced him into. Dick was overbearing and affectionate, while Jason preferred more space and had tough love mentality that was distinctly different than the one of Damian’s mother and grandfather; Damian liked his version better.

He imagines Tim wouldn’t be as affectionate as Dick, given his interactions with the eldest, but had pieced together that Tim did enjoy physical contact to some extent. They would definitely keep some form of their rivalry, or perhaps make it more two-sided than one, as Damian can’t see it disappearing entirely.

But in order to get that relationship, in order to reach that point of brotherly bond Damian wishes to have now, he needs to fix what he’s done.

Damian thought being nice, not taking any cheap shots at Tim and offering to spar with him, would be a good place to start.

He thought it had been going relatively well, and was cautiously optimistic.

Until the conversation.

~~~

Damian had been making his way to his room after taking Titus for a walk when he passed the kitchen and heard his name.

It made him pause, wondering who was talking about him and why. Even after being away from the league for so long, Damian still couldn’t shake the thought popping into his mind that they were mocking and belittling him.

“What do you mean?” Damian heard Dick ask.

“I mean exactly what I said.” Tim replied. “Damian is up to something.”

Damian’s brows furrowed. He hadn’t realized he’d done anything to give Tim that impression. He thought back on all the interaction’s he’d had with Tim recently and wondered where he’d messed up. His plan had been going so well too.

Dick must have given Tim some kind of look because Damian hears him clarify himself. “He’s-he’s being  _ nice _ to me.”

Oh.

_ Oh. _

“Maybe he’s just being nice.” Dick offered.

_ Please believe him. _ Damian finds himself hoping. _ That’s really all it is _ .

“To me?” Tim asks in disbelief. “Unlikely. Damian is a demon. He hates me. This is all probably some ploy to make me drop my guard and get me in trouble… or another attempt to kill me. Probably not that one though, he’s not that bad anymore.”

Damian… has mixed feelings. On one hand he’s hurt that Tim thinks so little of him, though he acknowledges Tim has every right to be suspicious of Damian it still hurts. On the other, there’s a small bit of happiness that Tim thinks him past feelings of wanting him dead… or maybe he thinks Damian won’t attempt it because of Dick and Bruce’s love.

Damian stares at the floor, trying to think of how to proceed. He doesn’t think he can approach Tim, knowing he thinks this of Damian, not right now anyway. He needs air.

Damian turns back the way he’d been coming, back to the front door and rushes out, wincing as the door slams closed behind him as he continues to get as far away as possible.

~~~

Damian hears someone land behind him, purposefully letting him hear them. Damian pulls a knee closer to his chest, allowing the other leg to hang off the edge of the building he’s on.

It’s night now, he hadn’t bothered to go home and didn’t feel up to patrolling anyway. He’d gone up to the roofs when night fell, no one would be able to make out his features in the dark and pin him as Damian Wayne, and no Gotham criminal went up to the roofs unless they already had a bat on them or wanted to be caught.

“Hey,” Tim starts awkwardly.

Damian sighs through his nose. “Hello Drake,” He greets softly.

Tim takes a seat next to him, shifting uncomfortably. “So, you left pretty quickly earlier.”

Damian glances at him, noting that Tim is in civilian clothes. Had he been looking for Damian since he left?

There is a pause.

Damian thinks they need to talk. Maybe that should have been his plan from the start” apologise, clear the air. He just doesn’t know how to start.

“I’m not trying to do anything.” He settles on eventually, voice still at a vulnerable, child-like quietness that Damian hates himself for having. The league would have ripped him to pieces if he used it there.

Tim winces slightly. “I shouldn’t have said those things behind your back.” He admits awkwardly. Damian realizes they’re both bad at talking about their issues and emotions. “I know what it’s like, so that’s my bad for doing it.” He’s silent for a moment before asking, “So why are you being nice to me? It’s just… not something you do normally.”

Damian purses his lips, taking in a deep breath. “I… I would like to make up with you, Timothy.”

Tim blinks in shock. “What?”

Damian sighs. “I have not been kind to you. My training and experience with the league played large roles in that treatment, but I am not without fault ignoring that. I… want to make it up with you.”

He looks up at the older hero. “I want to be your brother.”

Tim’s next breath is sharp, and he looks out to the skyline. Damian can see the gears turning in Tim’s head.

“Damian,” Tim starts, “We’re already brothers. We’re not… close, and I don’t know if I trust you personally, but we are brothers. And, believe me, I know the league can fuck people up, I don’t blame you for doing the only thing you knew how to do when you got here.” 

“I want your trust though, Timothy. I… I want us to be brothers through bond, not just legally.” Damian attempted to explain.

Tim nodded slowly. “Alright, I… we can try.” Tim looks over. “You’re not the only one who messed up, Damian. I did to. We can’t… wipe the slate clean, we’ve both done damage that’ll stick, but we can try to do better. That’s enough for me, for now. What about you?”

Damian stared at his brother before his lips quirked up slightly. “That is all I’ve been trying to do.”

Tim nodded. “Alright, come on. Let’s get back to the manor.”

Tim stood and offered Damian a hand.

Damian took the olive branch he saw the offer as, and thought maybe this would work out like he’d hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fits the second request a lot better, I have to admit, but I still tried my best to incorporate both, by giving Dami some trauma from how the league raised him and Tim acknowledging that.   
> Hope you enjoyed it!


	22. Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summarized comment: Death & Duke, with him either having a near death experience or dying for five minutes like Dick and Steph and getting comforted by his siblings after  
> Requested by Dysfunctional Zombie

Duke cranes his neck up, and tries to push himself up so his hands can grab onto the bar where the rope holding him is tied.

When Duke thinks he has a good grasp on the bar, he attempts to pull himself up, swinging his legs so they hook onto the bar and ignoring the protest of his muscles and ache of pre-existing wounds.

Duke adjusts his grip on the bar, though he’s careful to make sure he won’t fall, and starts trying to untie the rope.

He’s just managed to get the rope to start loosening when the sound of footsteps approaches. Duke curses, and quickly unlatches himself from the bar, allowing himself to drop. The tug at his wrists from the rope is painful, but he’d rather have that than be caught trying to escape.

He knows the footsteps are purposeful, he’s been given enough training from Batman to know intimidation technics when he’s faced with them, and he’s heard enough stories of who’s captured him to know as well.

“Hello,” The Joker singsongs as he steps into the room; shivers run down Duke’s spine at the Clown Prince of Gotham’s entrance.

_ Don’t show fear, Don’t show fear. _ Duke repeats to himself. It was one of the main things drilled into him during his training: never show the criminals you’re afraid or that they’ve gotten under your skin.

“I was beginning to think I’d never get to see the daytime birdie,” The Joker speaks. “Didn’t the Daddy Bat ever tell you how dangerous it is to go out on your own?”

Duke glares and stays silent. The Joker isn’t wrong, Bruce would probably angry that Duke had gone to investigate the recent Joker activity without any of them, when he realizes. But the case had been stumping the bats for two days. All hands were on deck as they tried to figure out where Joker was going to attack next, but they always seemed one step behind.

Duke had figured he could check out where they thought the Joker might be hiding out during the day, when there should have been no activity. Steph alert: there had been activity.

The smile slips off of the Joker’s face just a bit as Duke refuses to speak.

“Well,” he starts nonchalantly, “I guess until the family comes to pick you up we should play some games to pass the time.”

Duke has been doing his best to ignore the array of weapons on the wall that Joker now makes his way over to.

Joker runs a hand over the weapons, stopping on a crowbar still covered in dry blood. “Oh, this was Robin 2.0s favorite game.” He looks over at Duke, grin wide and eyes maniacal. “I’m sure you’d love it too, but I don’t think he’d like sharing very much.”

Duke bites down on his tongue, he should stay quiet, he’s not supposed to rise to any bait, but… “I’m pretty sure he has a game he wants to introduce you to himself.”

The Joker laughs, load and hysterical. “Oh, oh I’m sure you’re right, Yellow.”

_ Creative, _ Duke refrains himself from snarking. He’s not that cocky; he’s not Jason or Damian.

The Joker moves on past the crowbar and instead grabs a knife off the wall. He stalks towards Duke, who draws himself as far back as he can, arms protesting the strain. 

“Let’s see if we can cut the Bat’s Signal.”

~~~

Duke’s second escape attempt hurts more than the first.

His arms, legs and torso are cut up and bleeding making his hands slippery and hard to get a good hold on the bar. Pain lances through his calves where the bar is contact with the wounds inflicted by the Joker, who had left mere minutes ago.

Duke finally frees one hand, the wrist and hand aching where the rope rubbed against it as he slipped out. The other hand was easy to free from there.

Duke let’s his leg’s drop, wincing as his arms take all of his weight. 

He releases his hold on the bar and drops to his feet, quickly crumbling as the pain brings him to his knees.

“Get up,” He hisses to himself. “You’re better than this. You’ve been trained better than this.”

Duke drags himself to his feet and stumbles forward, toward the door. 

_ The Joker never makes it easy _ , Duke stops and reminds himself. He remembers what Jason has told me.  _ “If you ever get caught by the Joker, and I hope that you never fucking do kid, know that nothing with him is easy. If it looks like you have a way out, it’s a fucking trap. Find another way.” _

Duke looks around the room. There’s the wall of weapons, the bar he’d been tied to and little other than that. His gear isn’t in the room, nor is there anything Duke could use to signal his location. 

There is, however, a window.

Duke stumbles toward it. It’s near the ceiling, but Duke is pretty sure he can reach it if he jumps and hauls himself up.

It’s painful, but he manages, adrenaline fueling the action. 

Duke prods at the window and finds it unlocked.

He opens it; the sound starts.

Of course, of course there is a bomb in the window because the Joker would realize that Jason would have warned against the obvious.

Duke drops himself to the ground, but this time he’s unable to climb to his feet.

So he begins to crawl away from the window, away from the bomb. He won’t be able to get out, but the farther he is from the blast the better chance of survival he has.

_ It wasn’t the bomb that killed Jason, _ He remembers from the report,  _ it was the smoke. _ If he can manage his breathing there’s a chance.

The bomb goes off.

~~~

Duke goes in and out of consciousness for he has no idea how long.

Rubble surrounds him on all sides, and smoke fills the small hole area most of his body is in. He can’t feel his left leg, and without being able to look back at it he can only assume the worst.

It hurts to move, he can only wait.

Smoke thickens the air and Duke coughs as he tries to regulate his breathing, only taking in the minimum of what he needs. 

_ Is this how I die? _ Duke wonders.  _ Damn... Jason’s going to be pissed I copied him. _

He drifts into the darkness for the millionth time, but he thinks he might hear shouting from somewhere nearby.

_ Probably just my imagination. _

~~~

Duke wakes up with a groan.

His body isn’t in as much pain; that’s the first thing he notices. The next is the steady beeping of a heart monitor and the screeching of bats.

He’s in the Batcave.

Duke heaves a sigh of relief, the gravity of the situation he’d just escaped fully sinking in.

Someone shifts next to him, and Duke glances over. Dick sits next to him, quietly observing.

“Hey,” Dick smiles a little when Duke looks at him. “Glad to see you’re finally awake.”

Duke tried to sit up but winced. “How long was I out?” He asked, giving up on sitting when he fails a second time, simply shifting into a more comfortable position that doesn’t cause much pain.

Dick sighs. “A day. You had to have surgery when we got you out from under the building. We…” Dick is silent for a moment before taking a deep breath, “You flatlined once.”

Duke stares at him for a moment, then closes his eyes. He’s glad Dick was honest with him, but…

Duke thinks humor is a good way of coping right now.

He snorts. “Well, guess I’m officially a real bat.”

It did seem to be a thing. None of them were really a bat until they’d faced a situation where they almost (or did) die. For Jason and Barbara - and now him - it was the Joker. For Dick it was the incident before going undercover. For Bruce, it was Darkseid. Tim had the incident with Widower, and Damian had the Heretic.

Dick grabs Duke’s hand and squeezes it tight. “Hey, no. Do  _ not  _ say that. Dying is not something that makes us bats. I guess it does seem like that, but no. Duke, what happened to you isn’t some kind of hero check box.”

Duke looks over at the older hero. “Yeah… yeah, sorry. It’s just… I’m just gonna need some time.”

Duke doesn’t think he can patrol for awhile, not without extra paranoia than what’s already bat-programmed into him.

Dick smiles in understanding. “We’ve all had to take breaks before Duke, well, maybe not B, but there have been times where he really should have. None of us will judge you.”

Duke offers a tiny smile in return. “So where are the others?”

Dick sighs. “Bruce is out on patrol, same with Damian. Tim’s been forced to sleep, but he protested a lot, saying that if Bruce wouldn’t let him patrol alone then he should at least be awake for you. Bruce told him no since he has a board meeting and hasn’t slept since the thing with Joker started. Timmy had to have Alfred sicked on him.” Dick tries to joke.

Duke offers a small laugh, though it hurts his chest. “And… Jason?”

Dick winces. “Jay’s… well, we’re giving him some space right now. I’m sure he’d like to see you though, when you’re feeling up to it.”

Duke nodded. “Maybe, but I’m pretty tired.

“Oh,” Dick chirped, realizing that Duke should probably get some proper rest. “Yeah, you get some sleep. Someone will be here when you wake up.”

~~~

When Duke’s recovered enough to move around by himself, and Bruce has relaxed on his constant hovering a bit, Duke goes to Jason’s most used safe house in search of him.

Jason opens the door before Duke can even knock.

“Saw you on the security feed.” Jason explains before Duke can ask.

He nods. “Alright. So… I haven’t seen you around lately.”

Jason grunts. “Yeah. I needed some time to clear my head.” Duke doesn’t comment that he can still see more green than normal when he looks Jason in the eyes.

The two sit on Jason’s couch in a silence that’s only slightly awkward before Duke speaks up.

“I did try to listen to you.” He sees Jason tense a bit but doesn’t comment on it. “He expected it though, rigged the window instead of just putting out a bomb.”

Jason growls, shoving himself to stand up. “Of fucking course he did.” His eyes flash green before he rubs a hand over his face. “Sorry. I’m sorry. You don’t need to put up with me right now.” He looks over at Duke, seemingly taking note of the bandages still covering Duke’s arms. “You okay?”

Duke nods. “Yeah, mostly. I’m not patrolling by myself for a bit though,” He jokes. “Bruce won’t let me, and… I don’t really want to. I shouldn’t have gone to investigate anyway.”

Jason grunts in agreement, remembering the panic they’d all felt when they realized Duke wasn’t back from patrol at his normal time. “Well, if you want a patrol partner and the others aren’t around you can always ask me.”

Duke glances at him, wondering if the older was serious. When he sees no hint of dishonesty in Jason he smiles. “Yeah sure, and… would you mind if I talked to you about it? I… Dick’s been trying his best but…”

“He doesn’t really get it.” Jason finishes. “Yeah. Can’t promise I’ll stay calm, but I’ll try. Talk, kid.”

So Duke talks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the reason Duke had to have surgery isn't really mentioned in the chapter. In my mind it's something from the rubble/explosion that Duke didn't notice because he was kind of in shock.  
> Duke's escape technique is actually something you can really do, I saw it in a self-defense tiktok by @dutchintheusa and wanted to use it.  
> I wanted to write Jason and Duke bonding, whihc is why it was the Joker.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	23. Accidents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summarized comment: Accidents, centering around Jason and Dick. Jason has to talk Dick down from jumping off a building or something after someone Dick was chasing dies somehow and Dick blames himself.  
> Requested by BansheeQueen92

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this takes place when Tim is Robin. Jason is still on bad terms with the family but they've come to a very tense standstill, if that makes sense.  
> It's kind of like a you leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone situation.

Jason was just exiting a warehouse filled with bodies when he noticed him.

It was pure luck really, if Jason had taken a minute longer to kill them or made his entrance a minute sooner he would have missed the sight of Dick Grayson sprinting over rooftops like his life depended on it.

Jason had only ever seen his - begrudging - older brother move like that in an emergency.

Jason hesitated, telling himself that whatever was going on it was the Bats’ business, not his.  _ But what if something happened to the Replacement. _ Jason didn’t like the kid, but like fucking hell was he going to let another Robin die on Batman’s watch.

Making up his mind, Jason grappled up to the roof and took off after the retreating form of Nightwing, ignoring the red substance on his face and making his jacket stick to his armor.

The chase lasted a good ten minutes, and Jason had to curse Dick for his agility and stamina. 

“Fucking acrobats,” Jason wheezed as he slowed his sprint. Dick was hunched over, kneeling on the ground near the edge of the roof they were on.

Dread pooled in Jason’s stomach. Maybe he was too late to save a Robin.

“Nightwing,” He called out.

Dick’s head whirled around, eyes wide behind his mask. “J- H-hood.” He corrected himself quickly.

Jason’s eyebrows furrowed, he rarely ever heard the older stutter. Dick was a trained leader and knew how to hide his feelings when needed. Something was up. 

He’d quess it might be an imposter if it hadn’t been for the slip up in names.

“You were in a rush.” Dick tensed, not able to determine Jason’s meaning behind the light tone of voice he used. “What happened?”

“N-nothing.” Dick muttered, his fists clenched as he looked down at them.

Jason followed his gaze and startled. “Is that- is that fucking blood?”

It was hard to make out on the black of Dick’s suit and with the main source of lighting being from what moonlight made it through the thick, Gotham smog, only some light from the streets making its way up to the rooftops. But Jason could distinctly see the color differences on the blue finger stripes of Dick’s suit.

Dick immediately drew his hands close to his chest as if he could hide them and the blood staining them.

Jason took a careful step forward, a million scenarios playing through his mind. Dick could be hurt and trying to hide an injury, Robin could be dead and it was his blood on Dick from when the other had tried to save him, or… or what?

“What happened?” Jason repeated, a bit sharper than before.

Dick looked up at him then. Jason wished they could take off the masks so he could see exactly what was running through his brother’s head. 

“I… Jay… Jay I killed someone.”

Jason froze in shock. From what? The name? No, no the name wasn’t important here.

“What do you mean you killed someone?” Jason demanded. He glanced around at their surroundings quickly. He wasn’t the one possibly compromised here, which meant he had to be the one to make sure neither of them were at risk. 

He couldn’t spot any security feeds. Oracle might have a few well hidden ones, but he didn’t need to worry about them until he got more details on what Dick was talking about.

Dick’s hands shook as he pulled them away from his body to stare at them again. Jason couldn’t see Dick’s eyes from behind the mask, but he was pretty sure he could tell when the older’s eyes drifted towards the ledge.

“Dick,” He snapped, drawing his brother’s attention back to him. “Who did you kill? Tell me.”

“Some-some thug.” Dick answered, pausing for a moment before speaking again, “I don’t… I don’t even know who he was. Jay…  _ Jay. _ ”

Jason flinches, his name sounds desperate coming from Dick’s mouth at the moment. 

“Jay I killed him and I don’t even know who he was.”

“Hey, it doesn’t matter.” Jason tells him, continuing to approach Dick slowly. He doesn’t mention that sometimes it’s easier not to know who the small ones are, not to know their life outside the crime. Jason always makes sure to know and remember the important ones, but the petty crooks are better left unnamed. “Just tell me how you killed him.”

Jason knows he’s walking on thin ice here. Dick could crack any minute, and he’s already seen the original Robin look over the edge of the building. Jason knows Dick isn’t a stranger to death, but this is the first time he’s caused it.

Dick sucks in a sharp breath. “I… he…” His breath quickens.

Jason curses and kneels down, unlatching his helmet and taking it off. He still has his mask anyway. “Nightwing, breath. Whatever happened, it’s fine.”

“He’s going to be so mad.” Dick muttered. “He’s going to kick me out again. Jason… Jason B’s gonna hate me.”

Jason tried to suppress his wince, he couldn’t let Dick see a reaction that might confirm his fear, even if Jason knew first hand it was true. “Hey, you’re his Golden Boy, it’ll be fine.”

_ And it might be, in all honesty, _ Jason thought bitterly. Bruce might just be able to look past one instance for his perfect son. 

Jason struggled to squish the pit rage rising, Dick didn’t need that at the moment. “Tell me what happened Dick.” His voice was a bit more irritated than the other times he’d asked.

Dick drew in a long breath, attempting to calm himself. “I… okay… S-sorry,” he stutters out, trying to offer Jason a shaky smile to show he was alright.

“None of that bullshit,” Jason growled, Dick was not allowed to suppress his feelings about this, otherwise he’d explode and it would be worse than if he sunk into despair; someone else would probably end up dead. “Just talk.”

“I… it was a regular patrol - route 5D,” Dick starts. “There was a mugging. I dropped down to help. There… it-it was standard. Then…” Dick shivered. “The guy ran. I threw a bola and…”

Jason was starting to get an image, and he felt the pit rise in him. “Are you fucking kidding me? Dick, you didn’t kill him.”

Dick looked up at him in confusion. “Yeah I did Jay, I…”

Jason cut him off, “NO, the guy tripped and fell on his own knife. That’s his fault.  _ You _ didn’t kill him, so calm down and get back to Bat territory.”

“Dick drew back slightly at the scathing tone. “Are you kidding? B’s going to-”

“B will forgive you! You aren’t me, Dick.  _ I’m  _ the killer.” Jason stood, motioning to his blood stained Jacket and skin to make his point.

Dick flinched, seeming just noticing the blood covering his brother. “Jay-”

“What happened was an accident, Dick. You weren’t the one to blame for that.” Jason’s voice was only slightly softer than before. He wasn’t trying to get angry at Dick or make the night any worse for the other than it already clearly was. “B will understand. He’ll forgive you. He always does.”

Dick nodded a little, clearly not fully believing Jason. “... He’d forgive you too, you know.” He muttered after a moment.

Jason snorted. “Been there, burned that bridge. I don’t want Bruce’s forgiveness.”  _ That’s a lie _ , the part of Jason that’s still Robin, still believes in Batman - however small that part may be - whispers in the back of his mind. “We both know he doesn’t give a shit about me anymore. I’ll do things my way, you Bats work by your code. We’ll see who gets things done.”

Dick tilted his head sadly. “You know he cares, he never stopped caring.”

“Whatever. I’ve got more work to do, and you need to get back to the Cave.” Jason told Dick, voice slightly commanding. “If B’s really mad just tell him I killed the guy.”

“I wouldn’t-”

“Bye, Dick.” Jason cuts off the other hero, as he walks away, jumping to the next roof and leaving the other behind.

At least he’d sorted out that little issue, no need for Nightwing to be separated from the flock. 

Accidents were accidents, and killing wasn’t an accident. Jason knew that, and so did Bruce. Dick would be forgiven of all charges, while Jason would bear the weight of exile.

Jason ignored the feeling that this is his own, self-given exile, and that he’d just walked away from a chance to return to the closest thing he’d ever had to a home.

There was still work to be done, work he couldn’t do in the folds of the Bat. 

That was enough reason for Jason to walk away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was technically supposed to be Jason-centric so I tried to make it as much about him as I could, while still doing the Dick angst justice. Sorry if it feels weird because of that.  
> Another comment on the timeline: Jason has forgiven Bruce for everything with the Joker, even if he still gets Pit Rage when it's brought up, but he still feels like the Red Hood's way is better and more effective than Batman's which is why he's still avoiding making amends with the family. Pretty sure that was clear at the end, but figured I'd state it anyway.  
> Hope you enjoyed!


	24. Bruce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Comment: "Jason Todd centric with Bruce? They get into a fight, B is in the wrong. Then Batman is captured and Jason saves him anyway."  
> Requested by SuperSilverSpy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick warning because Jason mention panic attacks and implies his had them before, but I wouldn't clasify how I wrote his feelings as a panic attack. If anyone believes otherwise let me know and I'll change this warning.

Jason stormed out of the Manor angrily, slamming the door closed behind him. He’d apologize to Alfred later.

This wasn’t exactly an uncommon occurrence, but Jason thought they’d been doing better, thought  _ Bruce _ had been doing better. Though, Jason realized he wasn’t entirely fault free in the situation.

At least he had the excuse of Pit Rage. What did Bruce have?

Emotional constipation?

They all had that!

Jason wasn’t even sure what had caused the fight this time. Maybe it was habit, maybe it was built up frustration from cold cases and paranoia from a lack of criminals on the streets. Maybe it was just Jason himself, wouldn’t be the first time.

Jason saddled his motorcycle and revved the engine loudly as he sped as far away from the Manor as possible; he hoped Bruce could hear it from that stupid fancy chair in his office.

~~~

It was a dumb fight.

Bruce had gotten mad about Jason being reckless on patrol or something, and things had seemed to explode out of control from there.

They were both stressed and taking it out on each other. Joker had broken out of Gotham, but hadn’t been seen since. He’d been out for nearly a week and hadn’t done anything, which was unlike the clown.

To make matters worse, the scum of Gotham’s underground had apparently decided to take a vacation, leaving the bats little to nothing to do, but stand on edge until the Joker struck.

It was getting to all of them, but they were handling it well.

Except for Bruce and Jason, apparently.

Jason scowled as he threw another strike at his unsuspecting punching bag, trying to get out all the steam and Pit still in him from the fight with Bruce. 

He could feel the Lazarus water simmering in his veins, beckoning him to continue, urging him to kill. He had no plans to give in, but it was tempting, if only to land another blow on Bruce and his overgrown ego.

Jason’s phone went off for the third time in the past ten minutes. He growled and stormed over to pick it up.

“What?” he snapped. 

_ “Jason,” _ Tim’s voice crackled through the phone, and Jason hoped his apartment's shitty connection wouldn’t cut the call when he registered the seriousness in Tim’s tone.

“What happened?”

_ “B went out again.” _ Tim started, and Jason swore he was going to hang up if Tim was just calling to get him to go out and make up with Bruce. He wasn’t the one in the wrong here.  _ “Joker kidnapped him.” _

In any dramatic movie, Jason would have dropped the phone.

This wasn’t a dramatic movie.

Jason’s grip was whitenuckled as he clutched the device bringing the news. The Pit had stilled in his chest for only a moment, his mind was replacing it, conjuring images of Bruce stuck with the Joker, like he had been. “What?”

Tim sighed,  _ “Jason, I’d love to walk you through this and let you process, but we don’t have time for that right now. Will you help or not?” _

Jason snapped out of his dazed state. “The fuck kind of question is that? Do you know where they are?”

_ “We have an idea.” _

~~~

Tim and Barbara had managed to narrow the search range down to one sector of the city, but hadn’t been able to pinpoint anything closer than a 6 block radius.

Jason was the first one to find them. He recognized the area, and he knew that with the Joker’s sick sense of humor there was only one place he’d go.

The apartment was just as abandoned as the last time Red Hood, Batman and the Joker were all inside, and Jason felt his hackles rise ever so slightly. At least this time he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to get a batarang thrown at him.

He’d spent a good five minutes on the roof across the building, internally debating how to approach the situation. One part of him wanted to recklessly burst in and finally end the Joker, like he’d always wanted, and the other urged him to wait for backup.

But Bruce might not have time to wait for the others to show up, and Jason didn’t want to fall back into the Pit Rage that easily.

He called the others and climbed in through the window, trusting his control not to Rage.

The Joker was humming cheerily when Jason entered, Batman was hanging from the ceiling by his hands, unable to do anything to get out with the Joker watching. “I was wondering when you were going to show up Boy Blunder 2.0.” Joker greeted, grin stretching wide.

“What do you want, Joker?” Jason asked.

“I figured why not have a laugh and finally resolve that little predicament we had on our hands a while ago.” Joker responded breezily. “But let’s spice it up a little!”

The Joker moved with a relaxed, intentful purpose as he reached behind him and pulled a gun from his waistband. 

Jason growled instinctively, hand beginning to pull one of his pistols from its holster. 

“Now, now,” the Joker mockingly placated, moving the gun to point at Bruce’s head. “Let’s not do anything rash here, Robin Hood.” 

Jason clenched his teeth, mind racing. If he shot the Joker he’d pull the trigger and Bruce would probably be dead, if he didn’t shoot they’d probably die anyway - Jason had no doubt the Joker had pulled another card from his sleeve and rigged the place to blow somehow, just for the joke.

Jason had to stall.

He had to buy time until the others showed up, even if his skin was crawling and the Pit was rising and bubbling inside him. For once Joker was right about something, he couldn’t do anything rash.

The Joker noticed him stop. “Now there’s the good boy I remember. Now, how about a little game?”

Jason barely stopped himself from visibly bristling. His helmet gave him a margin of leeway here, he could glare and scowl let his face do whatever, but his body had to remain calm. “What kind?” His voice was sharp, but as relaxed as he could make it.

Jason could feel Bruce’s eyes burning into him with…. What? Anger? Trepidation? Warning?

Probably all of the above. B was probably still angry about the fight earlier, and Jason was being pretty civil with the  _ Joker _ of all people at the moment, so he probably thought Jason was gonna kill the clown as soon as he saw the chance.

Oh, how the Pit wanted to. But Jason wouldn’t.

The Joker bounced his way over to a closet door, a malicious gleam in his eyes as he reached in and pulled out a crowbar covered in dry blood.

Jason felt the air get sucked out of him, his face going slack and eyes wide in fear. He couldn’t stop his body from reacting, his hands twitched to left his gun just a bit more as he took a step back.

The Joker cackled at his reaction. “Oh, I wouldn’t play the same game with you, that would be  _ boring _ . I was thinking you could play it with Batsy.”

“What?” Jason questioned.

“You know, show the old man our favorite activity.” Joker explained with a manic giddiness, tossing the crowbar to Jason, who allowed it to fall to his feet.

Jason was not touching that thing, much less beating someone up with it. He wouldn’t. He wasn’t like the Joker. He wasn’t.

A part of him remembered what Dick said once, back when Jason still killed.  _ “You’re no better than any of them when you do this, Jay! You go around carrying that gun, shooting people,  _ **_killing_ ** _ people. You’re no better than any of the criminals on the streets of Gotham that way!” _

Jason had yelled and fought Dick then, raging at how Dick could compare him to the Joker. He wasn’t like him back then, wasn’t like him in this apartment with Bruce chained and a crowbar at his feet.

“Hood.” Jason looked over at Bruce. The man’s face was solemn and he nodded his head, just barely perceptible.

He wanted Jason to do it.

“Fuck no,” Jason snapped. “Weren’t we just talking about me being reckless and doing things I shouldn’t? Well, I shouldn’t fucking do this!”

Bruce didn’t flinch or wince, but there was slight grimace to his mouth Jason barely registered. “It’s okay.”

No it wasn’t okay. Because Jason was stuck in an apartment with the Joker and a father that was just as useless as the last time they’d been in a situation similar, and Jason was supposed to… what? Beat someone up with a crowbar? Beat up Batman? His father?

Jason wouldn’t.

Except he didn’t really have a choice. They still needed time, maybe 2 or three minutes more, until the others could arrive. And the Joker looked like he was getting impatient, smile dropping slowly as each second passed that Jason didn’t pick up the crowbar.

Jason looked down at the weapon by his feet, repulsed by even the sight, but it was the only option they had right now he finally realized.

Jason swallowed hard, holstered his gun and slowly bent down to pick it up. It felt wrong in his hand, heavy and big and shivers went down Jason’s spine.

This had to be done.

He’d probably only get a few hits in, before the others showed up.

Jason turned to Bruce, and slowly approached, doing his best to block out the Joker’s renewed excitement and exclamations of instructions and tips on how to hit  _ just right _ .

Jason’s hands shook as he raised the crowbar, Bruce stared back at him with a solemn acceptance, a quiet apology. Jason didn’t want his apologies.

Jason swung, like he was holding a baseball bat and was about to hit a homerun. The crowbar connected solidly with Bruce’s side and he grunted slightly.

Something dark pooled in Jason’s stomach. He really was no better than the Joker, there really was no difference between them. If there ever had been, there wasn’t anymore, not with this final act of damnation.

Jason clenched his eyes closed and tried to calm his breathing before he brought himself into a panic attack. He continued his assault on Bruce, never making his strikes as hard as they could be.

“Oh come on Robin Hood, you can do better than that!” The Joker cheered.

Jason didn’t have a chance to snap at or ignore him before Damian came crashing in through the window. The boy paused for one moment at the scene before him. Bruce chained to the wall, Joker standing in a corner peppy as could be and Jason standing before the imprisoned Bat a crowbar in hand.

The shock was gone as quickly as it came and Damian scowled, tackling the Joker to the ground, katana at his throat in seconds. The kid wouldn’t do anything, Jason didn’t think, not with Bruce there to witness anything.

Jason immediately released the crowbar from his grip letting it fall with a heavy thud as he skittered to the far corner of the room, as distant as he could get from it and the Joker without leaving.

He couldn’t leave. Not until he knew the others had Bruce handled.

Dick climbed through the window, Tim and Steph trailing close behind. They spared Jason a pacing glance of what could have been worry before focusing on Bruce.

Dick walked over to their father and grabbed at his waist, using his strength to lift the man so all of Bruce’s weight was no longer on the man’s arms. Steph and Tim moved to work on the chains.

As soon as Jason saw the chain Tim had been working on fall away he left through the window. He couldn’t face Bruce’s disappointment and disgust on top of his own. He’d deal with it later.

As soon as Jason had gotten out of the building he took off across the rooftops, racing to his nearest safehouse and tore off his gear.

He was in the shower for a good 2 hours, trying to scrub himself clean, but he couldn’t wash away the darkness or the pit that lay beneath his skin. He couldn’t scrub away the actions he’d done, or the small, tinted-green piece of him that had reveled and enjoyed the sound of a crowbar against Bruce’s body.

Jason crashed on his bed, emotionally exhausted.

~~~

He woke up to the smell of coffee and pancakes.

Jason blinked his eyes open, staring at the ceiling in confusion for a moment. It wasn’t like in the movies, he knew where he was, knew what had happened even if he wished he didn’t.

Who was in his safehouse?

Who had come to yell at him and kick him out of Gotham  _ already _ ?

Jason sighed and heaved himself out of bed. He still didn’t think he was ready, but it seemed the bats didn’t care. It was time to face the music.

Though he wasn’t in a rush and slowly meandered his way to the kitchen, tensing when he saw Bruce himself standing there, staring intently down at his stove with a spatula ready to flip a pancake.

“Shouldn’t you be in the medbay?” Jason eventually choked out.

He couldn’t do this. Not with Bruce.

He wished it was anyone but Bruce.

Bruce turned. “Oh, you’re awake.”

“Yeah,” Jason mumbled. “Didn’t realize my being kicked out would pass Alfred’s only-out-of-bed-for-emergencies injury protocol.”

Bruce blinked, placing down the spatula he’d been holding. “What? Why are you being kicked out?”

Jason groaned, suppressing the anger trying to surface. He had no right to be angry. “Come on, Bruce. Please don’t do this to me. Don’t play that stupid, lecturing parent card where you make me tell you what I did. Just get it over and done with.”

Jason cast his eyes away from Bruce and down the hall of his safehouse. He wondered where he could go. Maybe he could crash at Roy’s for a place, but he didn’t want to intrude on the archer when he was trying to take a well deserved break from vigilante life and drama to spend time with his daughter.

“No, I actually have no idea what you’re talking about Jason.” Bruce spoke. “What did you do wrong?”

There was a pregnant pause before Jason finally gave in.

“Fine,” His voice was harsh. “Last night. You’re here to kick me out cause last night I finally hit the lowest point and am just as bad as the fucking Joker.”

Bruce quickly approached Jason, hand coming up to clasp his shoulder, and Jason flinched. 

Bruce’s gaze was intense as he looked Jason straight in the eyes. “Jason no. What happened last night is not your fault; you had no other choice. If you hadn’t done that one of us would be dead.”

Jason began to shake. He didn’t want to believe that, not when he remembered the Pit singing in the back of his head at the violence. He was just as bad as the Joker, or at least he could be.

But, Bruce was right. It had been the only way to keep them both alive long enough for backup to show up. 

“Jason nothing that happened last night is on you. If anything, it’s on me.” Bruce continued when Jason stayed silent. “I shouldn’t have gone out again after everyone had already wrapped up patrol. And I shouldn’t have yelled at you either. That was my mistake, not yours.”

Jason opened his mouth to speak, but all the came out was a tiny whine that he hated himself for releasing. Bruce pulled him into his chest and Jason gripped the older man’s shirt tightly.

“I held it in my hand,” Jason gasped out. “I  _ used it _ just like he did. How can I… how can I not be? I… I enjoyed it, at least part of me did.” He admitted the last part quietly.

Bruce hummed gently, running a hand through Jason’s hair. “That wasn’t you, Jaylad, I’m sure of it. That was the Pit, not you.”

Jason knew that, he did. But sometimes the line blurred and he couldn’t tell when something was the Pit and when it was him.

“You won’t ever be like the Joker, and you wouldn’t ever do something like he would. You barely put any of your strength into those hits, I could have taken them all night.” 

The bruise Jason could see forming on the juncture between Bruce’s shoulder and neck where one of Jason’s strikes had hit claimed otherwise, but he chose to ignore it.

They stood there for a moment, quiet for once as Jason took comfort in Bruce.

Their relationship was rocky, always would be Jason bet, they had a lot fo violent moments, out bursts and arguments. They had even more where they tolerated and worked together with respect and love lying as an undertone beneath it. But Jason loved these, these quiet moments when they didn’t need words and just had an understanding, an unspoken moment of love and nothing else.

“Hey B,” Jason finally spoke up.

“Yeah chum?” Bruce asked.

“Your pancakes are burning.”

Bruce cursed and went ot save the safehouse from burning down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't been posting. School really swamped me last week and I wasn't doing to great. I still tried to work through it though, which is why the beginning of this might not seem as great as the rest.  
> I think I created a new favorite Joker brand nickname, I've never seen the nickname Robin Hood in a fic before and I just love it now that I've invented it for some reason.  
> I like to think that even though the Pit Rage isn't as big of an influence on Jason anymore it still gets the better of him or he can feel it sometimes, so I tried to contribute that in this chapter.  
> And also, I had to get some humor in this chapter at the end even if the last para would have been a good way to end it in a deep way XD  
> hope you enjoyed!


	25. Brotherhood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Comment: Brotherhood and Duke. Duke is feeling a bit out of place so Damian helps him get the hang of things.  
> Requested by ???? IDK I realized I didn't have the user but when I went to look I couldn't find the comment. Either I passed it, the person deleted it or I completely hallucinated this request but I wrote it anyway. If you requested it, well here it is.

There was a lot of history in the Wayne family, both good and bad, Duke had come to realize.

There were inside jokes, references to incidents Duke only knew a vague overview of through some Gotham blogs about the Bats and the Gotham Gazette. There were even more references to things he had no clue about.

Not to mention the relationships between them all. Duke got whiplash from how fast this family changed their emotions toward each other.

Jason and Tim could go from working together and joking just fine to Jason yelling at Tim and Tim taking it, though it didn’t happen often and Duke had heard was more common long before he arrived due to the mantle of Robin. Duke felt that was the easiest piece of bat information to understand when you join the circle after. It was no secret that Red Hood and Red Robin had had issues when Red Hood first showed up because of the Robin mantle, though you never knew the full extent until you were part of the hero community and learned all the details about Red Hood.

Jason and Dick would sometimes get into screaming matches, though that too was rare as Dick tried not to start fights among his brothers, preferring when everything was calm.

Dick and Tim were… difficult to understand. Sometimes they worked together in tandem, familiar with each other in a way that came only from fighting together for years, and other times it felt like there was a wall between them and a chill in the air. Times where Tim would get past conversations with Dick as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Duke hadn’t met Cass yet, he’d heard about the girl a lot but she’d yet to visit, and Steph was more a family friend who stopped by when she could, coming and going, entering the vigilante life and returning to her civilian life just as easily. Duke wondered how long it had taken her to reach that point.

Barbara, too, seemed like a separate unit connected to the mainframe.

Bruce was hard to read, so was Alfred. Duke couldn’t tell what either of them really thought or felt half the time.

Damian was the easiest, with Damian there were no quick attitude changes, no surprises waiting around the corner. With Damian there were just biting remarks that were easy to ignore and decipher most of the time, and when they couldn’t be it was usually because one was already in a foul mood, or, like with Tim, it was just part of the dynamic. All arguments and complicated relationships with him were either due to a horrible introduction, or were because of Jason and Dick’s attitude changes.

The bats were complicated, and Damian was the easiest to understand. 

Duke went to him for help.

His first choice had been Dick of course, but the other had simply laughed it all off, saying that “this is normal, you’ll get used to it.” And Duke probably would, but he wanted to know why, he wanted to feel like more than an outsider among these amazing heroes who knew each other so well and always came back together, no matter what happened or changed between them.

He wanted to know the jokes, the history behind them all, and Dick didn’t seem to get that. Maybe it was because he was the oldest, had been there the longest and knew it all. Knew every piece of history and every joke among the bats.

Dick didn’t understand, and Duke didn’t get Jason or Tim. 

Damian was easy and probably understood Duke best. He’d been the newest bat until Duke had shown up after all, so Duke went to find him.

~~~

He found Damian in the library, perched on a chair with Alfred the cat on his lap and a book in hand.

Damian looked up at the sound of his footsteps and raised an eyebrow. “Thomas, what brings you to the library?”

“I was looking for you,” Duke started awkwardly, wondering how he should go about the conversation. It had seemed like a good idea until he was faced with Damian.

Damian raised an eyebrow. “Oh? What did you need?” When Duke hesitated a moment longer, he added, “I don’t have all day.”

Duke read between the lines and translated it to Damian being slightly worried.

“It’s just, I was hoping… could you tell me about the family?” Duke asked.

Damian’s shoulders slumped, nearly imperceptible, in relief. “I was under the impression you knew most of us quite well.”

Duke shrugged. “Not really. I mean, yeah I know you guys but… I’m not really one of you, you know? I wanted to ask if you could tell me a bit more about… the history, the jokes, whatever. You don’t have to.”

“-tt- This is childish and unnecessary, but I will humor you.” Damian answered, motioning to the seat across from him, which Duke took. “What do you wish to know?”

Duke paused. What did he want to know? Now that he was seated before Damian, the other ready to bestow upon him any knowledge Damian held, Duke had no clue where to start.

“Um… what’s up with Tim and Dick?”

Damian tensed slightly, “Ah. Do you remember when Grayson was Batman?”

Duke nodded slowly. “Yeah, Bruce was… dead, right?”

Damian tutted. “Well, we thought he was, Drake believed he was trapped in the timestream or something. Which, admittedly, he was correct, but he sounded absurd. Grayson called him out when Drake started blathering nonsense, so Drake left.” Damian hesitated. “It did not help that Grayson gave me the mantle of Robin.”

“Oh, uh, sorry if I… brought up something you didn’t want to talk about.” Duke awkwardly said.

Damian waved a hand in dismissal. “I do not care, I am the superior Robin no matter what drama it caused. Anything else?” 

Duke thought for a moment. “Could you tell me about Cass?”

“Cain is quiet, she prefers to observe things, mostly. She can be annoyingly perceptive, but it is tolerable as she doesn’t do anything with her information usually.” The response came easily. “She enjoys dancing, so she will probably ask you to do it with her at least once.”

Duke nodded, wondering how he would manage to get through that. He wasn’t the greatest dancer.

“I don’t suppose you could get me in the loop with any of the jokes between you all?” he asked.

Damian tilted his head in thought and hesitantly shook his head. “No, those can’t really be explained. However, I’m sure you and the others will come up with your own frivolous inside jokes.  _ I _ am above such things.” 

Duke refrained from commenting on how he was pretty sure he saw Damian snort at something Superboy had said the other week that could have only been an inside joke. “Well, thanks. I’ll come back if I need anymore help.”

“Don’t,” Damian said with no heat.

Read between the lines it translated to: I’ll be around.

Duke nodded and stood to leave. He was halfway out when Damian called his name.

“Yeah?” He questioned, turning his head to see his younger brother.

Damian hesitated, an uncomfortable look on his face. “You are family. It… will be alright. This family can be disorienting, but you will find a way to anchor yourself, I have faith.”

Duke stared at Damian for a minute, brain trying to detangle and muddle through what Damian said. What did that translate to? What did Damian really mean?

He came up empty.

Duke nodded and left, though a weight lifted off his chest that he hadn’t quite realized was there before. Speaking with Damian had helped, just not in the way he had expected.

Duke would figure this out, eventually, though it seemed he still hadn’t quite grasped even Damian yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This feels kinda awkward to me and not the best, but I tried.  
> Hope you enjoyed.


	26. Betrayal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I cannot tell you the request, because the requester basically gave me an entire plot to write out, but let's just say it's a fun one to end on XD.  
> Requested by Kookies_Suga_andTae

Batman races through the snow, trying to reach the warehouse and save his son, only for it to explode.

Batman pauses momentarily, actually caught off guard for once, before racing into action and digging through the flaming rubble in search of his son. He stops, a flash of pain crossing his face for a fleeting moment before disappearing behind his blank mask as he drags the body from the wreckage.

“B, is he…?” Jason starts to ask before trailing off as he catches up with his mentor, gaze landing on the limp black and blue covered hand he could see from behind Batman.

“No.” 

Jason feels the world drop out from under him.

Dick is dead.

He’d never really gotten along with the older ex-Robin, but Dick had been the closest thing he’d ever had to a brother and they had their moments of comraderie like any other siblings.

And Dick is dead because of him.

If Jason hadn’t run off, if Jason hadn’t called him about how Batman was being unfair, if Jason hadn’t asked for Dick’s support when he went to find his mom, if Jason hadn’t--

No. This isn’t Jason’s fault. It’s the Joker’s.

“I’m going to kill him.” Jason growls, fists clenching tightly. “I’m going to fucking kill that madman.” Jason turns to stalk back to the bike, feeting heavy in the snow.

He wonders if they would have been able to reach Dick fast enough if it hadn’t been making running harder than normal.

A hand comes down on Jason’s shoulder suddenly, and he turns to Batman, whose face is hard and stern. “No, Robin.”

Jason pauses, waiting for Batman to say he’ll do it himself. Dick was his son, after all.

“We don’t kill.”

Jason gives him a bewildered look. “To fucking hell with the rule, B. That was  _ before _ someone killed Nightwing! He needs to pay!”

“We do not kill.” Batman repeats slowly and purposefully. “I will bench you if necessary.”

“I’m already benched, you can’t tell me what to do.” Jason challenges.

“Robin,” Batman’s tone is sharper, and Jason reminds himself that Batman has just lost Dick, his first Robin, his first son. He just needs time to process.

Jason lets it go, for now.

~~~

“So, when are we giving him payback?” Jason asks Batman, as the man works tirelessly on the batcomputer. 

He’s been working since they got back, it’s been five days. He hadn’t even gone to the funeral.

“What are you talking about?” Batman asks, not looking away from the screen.

“The Joker,” Jason snarls. “When do we put that bastard in the ground.”

Batman pauses in his typing, before abruptly standing and turning to Jason. “I told you, we do not kill, Jason. The Joker will be apprehended and will face his punishment legally.”

Jason stares at him incredulously. “And since when has that ever fucking worked, Bruce? He escapes  _ every time _ , he hurts even more people  _ every time _ ! He’s better off dead!”

“We do not decide that, Jason!” Batman shouts, “and I refuse to discuss this option with you further. Go to your room. You’re not to be in the cave or on patrol until you see reason.”

Jason stares at Batman in bewilderment before scowling. “I’m not the one who needs to get some common sense around here,  _ Batman _ .” He turns on his heel and storms out of the cave.

~~~

“Oh? What’s a lone little bird like you doing out on the town?” Poison Ivy asks in curiosity as Jason stands before her.

“Not Robin,” Jason corrects her, “Not anyone but Nightwing’s brother right now.” He’d snuck into the batcave earlier that night, when Batman was away on patrol and Alfred was distracted upstairs, and stolen only under armor and a mask. Robin is as good as a dead caged bird.

Ivy’s gaze softened a bit. “I heard about that, a shame really. Nightwing always was my favorite.” A small mischievous smile graces her red lips as she tries to cheer him up. “But that doesn’t tell me why you’re here.” 

“I need your help.” Jason says matter of factly.

“Oh?” Poison Ivy raises an eyebrow, “With what?”

“I need to kill the Joker,” Jason states, catching her off guard. “And you hate his guts almost as much as I do, because of what he did to Harley. Figured you might want in.”

Ivy watches him for a moment, possibly sizing Jason up, but he stands tall and doesn’t flinch under her scrutiny. He knows what needs to be done, and he won’t let anything stop him.

“What do you need?” SHe finally asks.

“A paralytic.”

“And I get to watch?”

“If you want, feel free to bring a crowd.”

~~~

Nicking the Joker with a fast working paralytic covered knife had been easier than Jason expected.

He has the psychopath cornered and trapped, right where Jason wants him.

The Joker looks up at him, before breaking into hysterical laughter. “Oh, so the little bird caught me. What do we do now? Turn me in and play this game all over?  _ That _ sounds like fun.”

Jason’s lip curls back. “Not this time Joker.”

The Joker pauses in his hysterics for a moment. “Oh~ So you think you can kill me? Do you have what it takes? Big Bird never did~ Only the bat can best me, and he has yet to break.”

Jason’s always known that this was a game to the Joker, some sick attempt to break Batman and make him kill, but the lengths he was willing to go to had been an unknown until recently. And he hadn’t even broken the right hero.

Jason snorts. “Not likely to happen, if this didn’t work. No, you get  _ me _ , Joker. And let me tell you, Batman would have been a mercy.”

Around them, a circle of Gotham criminals watch along with Poison Ivy, cheers and thundering rise from the group as they see Joker’s end draw near.

Jason pockets the knife and pulls out a gun.

His hand jolts back as the bang resonates through the area and the crowd is silent.

Gotham heroes don’t use guns.

Gotham heroes don’t kill.

And yet here one is.

Jason turns to the crowd, watching him in silent shock, and he realizes they’re all stained with blood beyond redemption. They’re all just like the Joker, to an extent.

They’ve all escaped Batman and the law’s justice before, no doubt. And Jason knows how to stop them.

By the end of the night, the blood of the crooked stains the streets of Gotham, as well as Jason himself. Some escaped, some he gave a pass for the time being.

Judgement Day has risen in Gotham City, and Jason needs a new name.

~~~

There’s a confrontation, one Jason cares little for, where Batman screams and rants about all Jason has done wrong, about all the harm he has caused.

Jason thinks it’s worth. The only people he has hurt are the ones who deserve it, the ones who need justice - the real kind - served upon them. If he has to get his own hands dirty then so be it. He was probably already damned to Hell for what he did on the streets anyway.

At the end of it, Jason shoots Batman in the arm and tells him Jason wants nothing to do with his way of doing things.

A week after Robin becomes Red Hood, Jason Todd dies at sea on a trip to some African country.

If Batman wants to play like that, Jason will play by whatever rules he has to.

~~~

Tim stares at Jason, “Why are you telling me this?”

Jason eyes the kid in the Robin uniform. “‘Cause you need to know. Batman doesn’t care, not about you or the people of Gotham, he only cares about his code. He has failed not one but two Robins, and he’ll fail you.”

Tim looks away. “I just want to help.”

“There are other ways of doing that, kid. Look for them.” Jason tells him.

“I don’t think I can leave,” Tim admits, “I don’t think he’d take it well.”

Jason thinks the boy has a point. “If you need a hand, come talk to me.”

Tim nods in thanks and Jason begins to take his leave.

“What are you going to do?” Tim asks suddenly, “If something does happen to me? When Batman refuses to let go and only causes more harm?”

Jason pauses before truthfully answering, “I’ll kill him.”

~~~

**_Breaking news from Gotham City: Red Hood and Red Robin have killed Batman. Is this the beginning of the end for Gotham, or the beginning of a new age?_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was interesting to write.   
> The story is supposed to be Jason telling Tim about what happened as a cautionary tale, which is why Bruce is always referred to as Batman.  
> Also, in case you were wondering about the end, in my head Bruce did something to prove Jason right to Tim and made Tim realize Jason was right about how things needed to be done, so he became Red Robin & Jason's partner.  
> And Dick stays dead, no Lazarus pit for him :(


End file.
